A Flame in the Dark
by LordHellPhoenix
Summary: Many legends exist within Remnant but one is know by very few. The story of two flames: one will bring change and the other devastation. And at the center of that is an orphan boy trying to be happy with his new family, Jaune. Destiny is coming but will he be able to stand the pressure? Maybe with the support of his new sisters and loves, he can. (Coverart: Khor Evik Vlakhavlakh)
1. Lighting the Flame

A Flame in the Dark

The dark woods were completely silent, not even a bird was chirping. The silence was left unbroken like it had been for who knew how long. That was until the sound of squeaking wheels rolling across the ground, the rumble of a wagon and the tired pants slowly spread out through the calm.

A young, seven year old girl with blonde hair tied into pigtails was slowly and tiredly walking through the woods. Yang Xiao Long was tiredly dragging her wagon behind her with her five year old sister, Ruby Rose, who was sleeping soundly while wrapped in her red hood. She had been walking for hours and she was beyond tired but was too determined to stop. She had waited so long for her dad to leave to do this, she wasn't going to turn back now.

She was going to find her mother. She was going to bring her back home. That way her dad wouldn't be so sad and Ruby could have a mom again. Even her uncle would be happy because he'd have his sister back. Everything would be better and they would all be able to help the others with the grief of dealing with Summer's death. Everything would be better for it.

She tripped and fell painfully on her hands and knees. Giving out a whimper of pain, she had scrapped her left knee badly from the fall and her hands were torn up from making her way through the overgrown path. She pulled herself to her feet and gave a sniffle as she reached up to wipe away the few tears she had, smearing blood on her left cheek from a cut she got earlier from a wayward branch snapping back. She grabbed the handle of the wagon again and kept walking.

A few minutes later, she was in front of a run down building. She stopped and sighed with a smile. Her legs were shaking like crazy but she didn't care in the slightest, she had finally made it. But before she could take one step closer, the smile fell from her face as she saw several pairs of glowing red eyes. Her eyes widened in shock and fear as three Beowolves slowly started to walk out of the building, looking at her with hunger in their eyes.

Yang took a step back before falling on her butt and scooting backwards until her back hit the wagon. She stopped and just stared at them, too tired and afraid to even scream at this point. The Beowolves slowly stalked up to her, like they were enjoying playing with their food. She just stared as they looked like they would lunge at her. That was until the sound of branches snapping came from the other direction.

The Grimm looked behind themselves and Yang look through their legs, all seeing something shocking. There, walking into the clearing, was a blonde boy her age in a torn black t-shirt and blue shorts. He just looked around before his eyes landed on the Grimm and the girl behind them. His eyes went from shock to fear in an instant.

The Beowolf in the back turned towards the boy and growled before it started to run towards him. Yang tried to scream out to him but she was too afraid and tired to even muster a peep. The Grimm lunged forward and was about to sink its teeth into his throat but that was when a bright silver light filled the clearing, momentarily blinding everything there.

Yang managed to open her eyes when she heard the sound of a large dog crying out in pain. She looked over to see the upper chest and shoulders of the Grimm to be engulfed in silver flames. It frantically tried to beat out the fire but all it did was spread to the limbs as it cried out in further pain. It finally collapsed to the ground as its entire torso and arms were ablaze, the eyes turned black as it started to dissolve into black smoke and silver embers. Yang looked back to the boy and gasped when she saw he was standing there unharmed with a fearful look in his eyes, which were now glowing dark silver and his hands covered in the same silver fire.

The two remaining Grimm just turned to the boy and growled in anger for the death of their packmate. They ran towards him at their top speed on all fours. The boy flinch back and reflexively raised his hands to try to shield himself from them. As if they were sentient, to streams of silver fire flew from his hands towards the beasts. The first managed to duck under one but it scraped along its back, leaving a trail of fire in its wake. The second was less lucky, it was in the middle of roaring as the stream slammed into its mouth. It cut off the roar and the screams as the throat was filled with fire. Fire burst from its gaping jaws, spreading along its entire head and it collapsed to the ground not a second later, turning to smoke and embers like the first.

The last Beowolf was slowly and painfully, prowling towards the boy, its entire back covered in silver fire. Its eyes holding anger and hatred for the boy who killed its fellow Grimm and the pain it had inflicted on itself. The boy took a step backwards and fearfully put out his right hand, like trying to keep it back. A heatwave like wave seemed to fly from that hand to the Grimm and the flames erupted into an inferno, engulfing the Beowolf. The beast gave one last pain filled howl before it was turned to ash and the silver flames burned away into silver embers.

Silence returned to the clearing and the two awake kids just stared in shock at what had transpired. Yang let out a relieved sigh but quickly gasped when the boy turned his eyes to her, his hands still glowing with fire. He just looked at her for a bit with a tilted head before he started to walk towards her. Her eyes widened in fear as he did. 'If he can do that to Grimm, what's he going to do to me?' she thought fearfully.

As he was getting closer, she scooted as close to the wagon as she could but to no avail. He was standing in front of her and slowly went to his knees in front of her. Just looking into her lilac eyes, she could now see they were a deep blue since the silver glow from his eyes were now gone. He then reached out his burning hand to her knee and she closed her eyes with a whimper.

She felt his hand land on her knee and she flinched, expecting to feel a burning worse then when she drank her hot chocolate before it cooled. But it never came, just the feeling like warm water was slowly covering her knee. She slowly peaked open her eyes and saw his hand was still on her knee but not burning her. She opened her eyes fully and he pulled his hand away, showing that the bad scrap on her knee was gone. Like it was never there to begin with.

She just stared on in open mouthed shock. He then reached out both his hands for hers. She didn't flinch back as much as before and he gently took her hand in his own, the back of her hands ups. The two just stared at her hands, him in concentration and her in just awe. She watched as the silver fire danced around her hand, giving he that warm water feeling again. As she looked on, she saw the bruises and cuts on her hand, knuckles and fingers start to close and heal with a white light.

When they were healed, he let her hands go and the flames receded back into his hands. Yang pulled her hands to her face and was just looking at them in shock. She looked back at him and he was looking back at her but not her eyes. Her left cheek where the cut was. He reached up to her cheek and this time she didn't even move. His palm gently laid on her cheek and his thumb gingerly laid on her cut. That warm feeling started to spread across her cheek and the cut closed pretty quickly.

He pulled his hand away and just looked her over for any other injury. As he was doing that, Yang was just looking at him and still unsure on what was happening. When he didn't see any other injury on her, he looked back into her confused eyes. He gave her the tiniest of smiles and the flames around his hands extinguished themselves. With that, his eyes rolled to the back of his head as he fell backwards onto the ground and was now unconscious.

Yang just stared at him, still just utterly confused. She jumped when she heard something land a few feet away from her. She quickly spun to it and saw her Uncle Qrow standing there with his sword at the ready. His red eyes looked over the clearing, seeing no Grimm and taking in the few people with him. He knelt down beside his eldest niece with his sword still in his hand, "Are you alright, Yang?"

She slowly nodded her head, "Yeah, I'm okay."

He sighed, "Good. Because you are in so much trouble." He told her as he looked into her eyes. She gulped and looked down, "But first…" she looked back up at him, "Who is that?" he said a she pointed to the unconscious boy.

Yang looked at her uncle and shrugged, "I don't know." She told him honestly. She then looked over at him and continued, "But he saved us."

Qrow raised an eyebrow at that but before he could say anything, both of them heard a tiny yawn come from the wagon. Both of them turned to see Ruby sitting up and stretching. She then looked around, confused when she had no idea where she was. She then saw her sister and uncle before she gained a massive smile, "Uncle Qrow! Are you here to play with us?" she asked in excitement.

Qrow looked from Ruby to Yang to the unconscious boy. He lowered his head with a sigh before he gave his youngest niece a smile, "Yeah, Ruby, I did. But first we have to get you two home first, okay?" The small girl gave a cheer and Qrow walked over to the boy and picked him up. He walked over to the wagon, "Mind scooting over a bit?" Ruby complied and he gently placed him beside her.

"Who's he?" Ruby asked.

Qrow shrugged, "According to your sister, the guy that saved you two." Ruby looked at him in shock before staring at the slightly older boy. Qrow crouched down next to the wagon, "Get on, Yang. You look exhausted." She didn't argue and slowly got onto her uncle's back. He stood up and grabbed the wagon's handle with his left hand an she started to walk them back home. Yang only made it a few feet before she slowly fell asleep on her uncle.

* * *

Couple hours later, the group had made it back to the Xiao Long-Rose home. Yang had woken up half an hour previously and was walking beside her uncle while Ruby was asking a millions questions. Taiyang immediately ran out the door and hugged his daughters tightly. Ruby, not understanding the situation completely, returned the hug as tight as she could while Yang was stunned for a second before returning the hug. The hug lasted for a while and she could hear her father just mutter quietly, "Thank Oum you're okay."

Afterwards, everyone went back into the house and Qrow laid the poor boy on the couch to continue to rest. Yang told the two adults and her sister what had happened and how the strange boy had saved them. Ruby had a look of wonderment at hearing all of this while Taiyang and Qrow were just stunned. After hearing all that, the two adults knew they had to talk and Tai sent his daughters to their room for the time being.

As the girls went up the stairs, Tai looked over the boy and noticed that his clothes were torn in many places and he had fresh burns on both his hands. Tai left the room and a few minutes later, came back with a first aid kit. He applied an antibiotic spray to his one hand before he started to wrap bandages around his wrist and hand. As he was wrapping his second hand, Qrow started to speak, "You do realize how bad this coulda gone, right?"

Tai sighed and nodded weakly, "I know."

"I wouldn't have got there in time. If it wasn't for this kid…"

"I know." Tai said angrily. There was a silence for several seconds before the older blonde sighed tiredly, "I know. We would've lost them, Qrow. I get it."

Qrow just looked at his friend and brother-in-law as he was leant against the wall. He sighed, "I get it, Tai. You're taking Summer's death hard for good reason. But your daughters need you, they need their father. So, and I say this with love, pull yourself together."

After a few tense seconds, Tai nodded and finished up bandaging the boys hand. Tai stood up and walked over to Qrow. The sober for once drunk was still looking at the kid, "Have you seen him around before?"

Tai shook his head as he crossed his arms over his chest. "Nope and even if I never talked to them, I've seen pretty much everyone on Patch at least once."

"So, he must've just shown up recently." Qrow concluded, "Why in the hell was he out there anyways?"

Tai just shrugged, "We'll have to ask him when he wakes up." They stared for a bit and he started to speak again, "I know me and you don't see eye to eye on everything, but I'm glad my girls have you around Qrow…I'm glad I have you around. Thanks."

Qrow just looked at him from the corner of his eye as he smirked and placed his hand on his shoulder to shake him slightly, "We're family. Don't forget that."

A few minutes later, the two men heard a weak groaning coming from the couch. They looked and saw the boy blink his eyes open before slowly sitting up. He started to rub his shaggy blonde hair as he looked around. He looked around in confusion and looked to see that his hands were bandaged up. He then spoke out loud, "Where am I?"

"That would be my home." Tai said out loud. The kid turned a full one-eighty to see the two men. His eyes grew with fear and panic as he quickly started to crawl backwards to the other side of the couch. Tai quickly put his hands up in a nonthreatening way, "Easy, Kid. We aren't going to hurt you. So, please calm down."

The young boy just looked at the two men, his eyes darting from one to the other. He eventually swallowed and slowly nodded. Tai nodded calmly, "My name is Taiyang, you can call me Tai if you like. This is Qrow." He motioned to the other man as he nodded, "Mind telling us your name?"

The boy just nodded hesitantly, "Jaune, sir."

"Jaune what?" Qrow asked.

The now named Jaune flinched involuntary before he looked at the other man. He then looked down, "Just Jaune. I don't have a last name."

That earned raised eyebrows from the Huntsman while Tai continued, "Okay. Where's your family, Jaune?"

The boy just shook his head, "I don't have one. Never have."

That earned a shock look from Tai and a sympathetic one from Qrow. Tai continued the conversation, "How did you get here then? To Patch?"

Jaune looked down and thinned his lips, like he was trying to remember. After a minute or two, he shrugged, "I don't remember. I just remember being here a few days ago."

The two just exchanged looks, not sure on what to say or think. Qrow asked the important question, "Why were you out in those woods, Kid?"

Jaune finally looked back up at them, his eyebrow raised, "Because that's where I heard the monsters were." He said it straight faced, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"So why would you go out there then?" Qrow continued.

That made the light leave the young boy's eyes as he looked down. He then said in a resigned voice, "Because that's where a monster like me belongs." Both of the adults were just flabbergasted by that. Jaune then stood up from the couch and turned to them. He bowed his head slightly, "Thank you for helping me. I'll leave you alone now." He turned around and went to the door.

"Hey, wait a minute." Qrow said as he took hold of his upper arm. Jaune instantly went rigid and put his other arm over his head to protect it from a hit he was sure was coming. Qrow's eyes went wide before they sank when he realized how tough this kid must've had it. He spoke gently, "Kid, I'm not going to hit you. So, relax."

Jaune then hesitantly lowered his arm, his eyes still holding some sort of fear in them. Qrow then let his arm go and Tai stood besides him, "We can't in good conscience, let you go out there and fend for yourself."

Jaune looked down again, "That's nice of you but I'll be fine. I really should be going." He turned to the door again but before either of the Huntsmen could do anything, a voice from the floor above then came through and Jaune stopped in his tracks.

"Daddy, can me and Yang come downstairs now?" Ruby asked.

Tai looked from the now stopped blonde boy to the stairs, "Yes, sweetheart. We want you to say hello to someone."

With that they heard a 'Yay!' and then saw the small girl run down the stairs with her elder sister a few feet behind her. Yang froze when she saw that Jaune was standing in the middle of the room. While Ruby just became laser focused on him and ran at him, stopping just before she would run into him. Jaune jumped and took a step backwards, "Hi! I'm Ruby. That's my sister Yang." She said as she turned around to point at her sister, who shook herself before walking over to her sister but staying a few steps behind her. Ruby turned back to him with a cheerful smile, "So, who are you?"

Jaune just looked towards the two adults, like he was afraid they would attack him for talking to the girls. When he saw them nod to him, he turned back to the girls. Ruby was just looking up at him with a big smile while Yang was looking at him with uncertainty. "I'm Jaune." he said calmly and politely. When neither of them said anything or even moved, he quickly tried to think of anything else to say. So he said the first thing that came to his mind, "You two have pretty eyes."

Yang's eyes widened before she turned to the side, with a blush on her cheeks. Ruby just smiled wider, "Thank you. You have pretty eyes too."

Jaune just tilted his head slightly, "Thank you?"

"You're welcome." Ruby said happily. She then started to hop up and down slightly, "Yang said you saved us from some Grimm out in the forest. Is that true? Huh, is it?"

Jaune looked to the blonde girl, who was still not looking at him, back to the younger girl, "Yeah. I guess I did." He slowly scratched the back of his head.

Ruby gasped, "Are you a superhero!?"

With that, Jaune stopped with his nervous tick and dropped his hand. He shook his head, "No, I'm no hero. I'm just a monster."

Tai and Qrow looked at him in concern while Yang looked at him in confusion. Ruby just tilted her head, "What?" she giggled slightly, "Don't be silly. You're no monster. Monsters don't save people."

Jaune sighed to himself. He didn't want to do this but it was the only way to prove it to these people. "I'm a monster because of this." He raised his left hand, palm up. He felt the familiar heat travel down his arm and into it just before it erupted in silver fire, burning away the bandages on the hand.

The two adults just stared on in shock. They knew it wasn't magic but seeing a kid so young use a Semblance was nearly unheard of. Yang was staring wide eyed, both in recognition and awe. Meanwhile, Ruby was just starstruck by what she was seeing.

Jaune wasn't looking at any of them, just the fire. "I've been able to do this forever. It's usually okay. But when I'm scared or mad…I can't control it…and people get hurt. I've…I've hurt so many people." He gave a weak sniffle. "That's why I know I'm a monster."

He extinguished the flames and dropped his hand to the side. He then turned back to the door and took a few steps closer to it. He flinched to a stop when he felt someone grab that hand. He thought it was one of the adults trying to get him away from the girls but that's when he realized the hand was smaller than his own. He slowly looked to see that it was Ruby.

The young girl raised his hand so she could see it better. More fresh burns were now covering his hand and she was looking worried. She looked back up at him with concern in her eyes, "Does it hurt?"

Jaune was shocked by that. Anyone who saw him do that never worried about him before. He slowly nodded his head, "Every time."

That made the younger girl frown and look at his hand. She then got an idea and gently kissed the back of his palm, further shocking him. She looked up at him with a tiny smile, "Better?"

Jaune just slowly nodded, "Yes. Thank you."

That was when Yang started to march over to him. Jaune's whole body stiffened. 'Is she going to hurt me for being close to her sister?' Jaune questioned himself. Next thing he knew, she had wrapped her arms around him and was hugging him. Jaune's arms went to the side, unsure on what he should do.

He felt her shake and she started to speak up, "Thank you." Jaune was about to ask her for what when he heard her sniffle, "You saved me and my sister." She continued in a shaky voice, "I-I did something dumb and if n-not for y-you…" She gave a quick sob before she buried her face not his shoulder and started to cry. "Thank you. Thank you."

"It's okay. It's okay. Oh man, please don't cry." Jaune tried to say quickly. He then gently returned the hug and rubbed her back, trying to calm her down.

Eventually, she calmed down and with a last sniffled stepped away. She wiped her eyes and gave him a grateful smile. That's when she gave him a quick kiss to his cheek, "Thank you." She said again, this time bashfully.

Jaune blushed slightly, "No problem." He said embarrassedly.

They heard chuckling and they turned to Tai and Qrow. Tai had a smile on his lips, "Looks like my daughters have taken a liking to you. Why don't you stay with us until we figure out what to do with you. What do you say?"

Jaune just looked at him confused. He looked at the girls, who nodded in agreement. "Why?" he asked. "Why would you do this for a monster?"

Tai just knelt down in front of him to look him in the eyes, "You're not a monster, Jaune. You're just a poor boy that has had a very tough time and needs a hand. So, do you want to take me up on my offer."

Jaune just looked at him, trying to see if this was a trick. But after a few seconds, slowly nodded his head.

* * *

Six months have passed since that day and the Xiao Long-Rose family has been all the better for it. It took a while but Jaune slowly but surely, Jaune started to trust them and open up to them. He turned out to be a very happy child that just wanted to make the people around him happy. He was even slowly getting used to physical contact. But that may be due to the fact that Yang and Ruby loved to give and get hugs. And having him around was like returning a light that was extinguished when Summer died. It wasn't the same but it made things easier.

Ruby and Yang had someone to play and have fun with. Especially when Yang went to school, Jaune would keep Ruby amused for hours by himself. And when Tai was away, he helped Yang with keeping an eye on Ruby. He was even bringing Tai out of his funk quicker than most would think. Qrow would still stop by on occasions to check up on everyone and to spend some time with, whole was quickly becoming, one of his favorite blondes.

Tai and Qrow tried to look for any clue on his family but found no leads. Not that anyone in their family was complaining. No one was looking forward to the day that they would have to say goodbye to the blonde boy.

Which lead to Tai sitting in the living room with his daughters. He looked at their smiling faces with his own, "You two ready?" The two nodded, "Jaune! Can you come down here please?"

They all heard him open the door to the guest room he had been staying in before they heard his footfalls go to the stairs and down them. "Yes, Mr. Xiao Long?" he asked as he was now in the living room. He was now wearing a brand new black t-shirt and blue shorts. Curtesy of them buying him them. He had a smile on his lips.

Tai took on a serious expression, "Well, the girls and I have been talking and we agree. We can't keep going with the way things are right now and we need to discuss you arrangement here."

Jaune's mood fell along with his face. He lowered his head slightly. He knew it was going to happen eventually but he didn't want to leave the Xiao Long family. They were the nicest people he had met. But, he knew he'd have to eventually. It wasn't like they could let him stay here forever. He then nodded, "I understand, Mr. Xiao Long." He said trying to put on a brave face.

Tai sighed, "Jaune, we talked about this. Call me Taiyang or Tai."

He quickly looked up and shook his head, "I'm sorry but I don't think I can do that, sir."

Tai's serious expression shifted to a smile, "Well, how about calling me something more appropriate? Like 'Dad'?"

Jaune looked at him in shock, not sure if he heard him right, "What?"

Tai smiled more, "We've been talking it over and-"

He was cut off by Yang, "We want you to be our brother!"

Ruby giggled, "Yeah, I want you to be my Big Brother, Jaune. Please!"

Jaune looked at the two of them before looking back at Tai, "Y-you're serious? Y-you want me to stay?"

Tai just smiled and nodded, "We do, Jaune. We've come to care for you very much over these last few months and we don't want to see you go. So, what do you say? Do you want to be part of our family?"

Jaune just stared at Tai for a while before looking at Ruby and Yang. Both were looking at him excitedly and nodding to him. He looked down and started to shake. 'This is real?' he asked himself. He sniffled before he started to cry. He desperately started to wipe his eyes.

The three family members looked at each other in shock. Tai got off his chair and knelt in front of Jaune, placing his hands on his shoulders. "Jaune, what's wrong?"

Jaune looked up to him with tears still pouring from his eyes. He couldn't say anything but just wrapped his arms tightly around the older man's neck. He and the girls were shocked since even though he got better with physical contact, he was still wary around adults. "Thank you. Thank you. Thank you." He said slowly and repeatedly.

Tai finally understood and smiled. He wrapped his arm around the boy to hug him, "You're welcome, son."

Hearing that caused Jaune to sob more but Tai just rubbed his back. Yang and Ruby got off the couch and walked over to them. Tai let go of Jaune and the girls hugged their new brother on either side. Tai wrapped his arms around all three of his children in return. The entire time, Jaune just kept crying in the embrace of his new father and sisters. But he was happier than he ever thought possible.

* * *

**A/N- And here it is, my new story. To be honest, in the poll this story took the lead early on and never lost it. It was shocking. Before anyone asks, what happened to Jaune's family?, I will explain that later in the story since it is very important for the plot. But just not yet. Wanna build the story itself some before diving into that rabbit hole. And I will explain his Semblance in the next chapter so don't worry about that. **

**So, I hoped you all enjoyed this first chapter and will look forward to the rest of this story. I will see you all in the next update!**

**Beta Readers were Jauneforever and Khor Evik Vlakhavlakh. Go check them out if you haven't. Both have great stories.**


	2. Ten Years Later

A Flame in the Dark

It had been several years since the day that Jaune was adopted by the Xiao Long-Rose family, and everyone would agree, everyone involved was better for it. Ruby and Yang had a brother to lean on and keep them company. Tai had a son that helped to fill the void in hisheart that Summer's death had left in his life. And Qrow had a nephew, enough said there. Finally, Jaune had a family and he had and the dark days of his childhood, or what he remembered, were a thing of the past.

Similar to his sisters, he also gained the passion to be a Huntsman but instead of the thrills or to be a hero, his reason was to gain the strength enough to be there for his sisters when they needed it. And unlike his sisters, he had decided to learn from both Qrow and Tai, giving him a rather fighting unique style. He learned hand-to-hand from his father and he learned swordsmanship from his uncle. He tried to learn to use a scythe as well but that didn't work out that well for anyone involved.

In fact, him and Yang were top of their year at Signal. He would've probably been higher than Yang but the blonde refused to fight seriously against his sister. In his words, "I refuse to punch my sister in the face." That didn't stop Yang from beating him though, but less painfully than you'd think. She did love her brother after all.

It came a surprise to no one when both Jaune and Yang were accepted to go to Beacon in a few weeks. They were excited and so was Ruby, although she would really miss her older siblings being around. She herself couldn't wait to go there herself. Not that the two blondes wouldn't miss the young reaper, that would be furthest from the truth. They wanted to make sure Ruby would be alright without them, which is what brought them to this moment.

Yang had brought Ruby to a small clearing they sometimes used for training to help her with some hand-to-hand combat. Which quickly boiled down to Yang trying to hit Ruby and the younger girl trying to defend herself the best she could. The latest attempt caused Ruby to be thrown onto the ground and on her back. The redhead just groaned a bit. Yang stepped towards her sister with a tiny grin, "Come on. You totally coulda dodged that." She reached down to give her a hand.

"Yang." She whined as she was helped to her feet, "I already told you, I'm just not cut out for hand-to-hand." She then started to gush, "Why can't I just use my beautiful Crescent Rose?"

Yang sighed, "That's exactly why I didn't let you bring it." Which earned a growl from Ruby. "We're gonna be leaving for Beacon soon." She placed her hand on her sister's shoulder. "I wanna make sure my little sis can hold her own while I'm gone."

"And even if her style of teaching isn't exactly correct, I agree with her on that." Said a masculine voice from behind her. Both turned to look at the newcomer, Ruby in joy at possibly being saved and Yang with slight annoyance from the backhanded comment that their brother just gave her.

Jaune Xiao Long was no longer the small kid from all those years ago. He now stood just above six foot and had developed very much since then. He wasn't as muscular as Tai but he was built and toned, which caught the eye of a few of his female classmates at Signal. Honestly, he looked so much like Tai that the people who didn't know he was adopted would think that Tai was his biological father.

He was dressed in his usual attire of black boots that went halfway up his calf and blue jeans. They were held up by a thick black belt that had four clips of ammo on each side. He had on a black hoodie with a white vest with black flame-like pattern around the bottom, where the sleeves would've been and on either side of the zipper, over top of it. It was opened to show the black hoodie underneath. The white vest was actually a white zip-up sweatshirt that his sisters had gotten him for his last birthday but because of a mishap with his Semblance, he had burnt off the sleeves. Not wanting to throw it away, he cut off the sleeves and sown them to make it what it was now.

Finishing his outfit was a pair of white metal armlets that went from his wrist to about halfway down his forearm. They were one of his weapons and were similar to Yang's, although they were a bit larger in their compact form because he had a few more mechanisms to work with. The only thing that didn't change was the mop of blonde hair on his head that was messily layered on his head. He had an easy grin on his face as he walked over to his sisters.

Yang turned to him with her fists on her hips as she gave Jaune a mild glare, "And _what_ is wrong about my way of teaching?"

Jaune just shrugged with the grin not faltering, "Besides the fact that you're trying to punch our adorable sister in the face and hoping she does _something_ to defend herself, nothing." That just made Yang narrow her eyes more, "You know as well as I, that was not how Dad taught us to fight."

Yang just crossed her arms over her chest and turned away, "Well you aren't exactly doing anything to make this better. Some brother, you're supposed to love me."

Jaune just rolled his eyes and gently placed his hand on the back of her head before bringing her close. He placed a gentle kiss on her forehead, something he only ever did for this sisters. The gesture brought a small smile to her lips, it always did. He pulled away with the grin still there, "I do love you, Yang. I just love you enough to call you out on when you do something wrong."

That earned a giggle from Ruby and that caused Yang to give him a shove, not strong enough to push him over or to take a step back though, "Jerk." She said. Although the small smile she had didn't disappear.

Jane then turned to his younger sister, "And she does have a point, Ruby. You may be a badass with your weapon but without it, you're like a defenseless puppy." That made Ruby give him a disappointed look. "I'm not saying you need to become a master martial artist but you should at least be able to hold your own until you get your weapon back."

"Well, why did you and Yang get to bring your weapons then if you're supposed to be teaching me to fight without one?" she pouted.

"Because ours just enhance our hand-to-hand, we don't need them to fight close quarters. Besides, I left Stalwart back with Crescent Rose in a show of solidarity." He said with a grin.

Ruby crossed her arms with a pout, "Fine. But could you at least have Yang go easy on me?"

Jaune looked at Yang with a raised eyebrow and she just gave him a smirk, "Ruby, she's been going easy on you. And you know this." He then grinned and stepped to the side; he really didn't want to get pulled into this. Because Ruby would either pull him in to save her from Yang or Yang would have him try to fight Ruby. Again, he was not punching his sisters in the face.

He watched as Yang fell back into her boxing stance and Ruby was still pouting. Yang lead with a punch that Ruby somehow deflected and ducked under the next two. Before taking a clumsy step backwards to not catch another to the stomach. Yang then went for a roundhouse kick that Ruby quickly dove between her legs to avoid. Yang went for two more punches that Ruby deflected clumsily with each arm. She then stepped to the side before she tried to punch Yang in the back of the head.

Yang just easily sidestepped it though with a confident smirk. Jaune seeing that just sighed, knowing how this would go. Yang swiped Ruby's leg from under her and as she was falling, went for a downwards punch to her face. In a panic, Ruby used her Semblance to turn into rose petals and vanish into the bushes. Yang chuckled as she stood up, "Nice one, Sis. You're not always gonna be able to run away from your problems though." She rested her hands behind her head as she started pacing, "Sometimes you just have to stand your ground and fight, no matter what."

Before she could continue, several gunshots were fired and as Yang spun around to face where they were coming from, her legs were frozen in place from the Dust bullets impacting the ground. Her eyes widened when a white metal fist with a barrel between each knuckle, was coming towards her face before it stopped an inch from her nose. She looked past it to see that it was indeed Jaune, who had a smirk, "And sometimes it's good to deflate that head of yours." He then flicked his sister in the nose before redrawing his arm.

Yang shook her head in annoyance before she tried to smack him away with her arm. But Jaune was already out of her reach with a chuckle. She was going to step forward but remembered her legs were still frozen. With a grunt she pulled her legs free and shattered the ice. "What the hell?!"

Jaune shrugged, "You can get overconfident and start showing off. Like you just did with Ruby. You're trying to teach her something, not show how badass you are, sis."

Yang huffed but knew he was right, "Point taken." She said lowly. "Alright, enough rest." She said louder to Ruby. "Get back out here." That's when they heard something big moving around and the brushes rustling more. "Ruby?" Yang asked as she narrowed her eyes.

"Something isn't right." Jaune said as he took a step forward.

That's when they saw the glowing red marking and the growls of the Grimm. "Ruby!" both of them shouted as the Ursa rose from the bushes with a roar. Jaune immediately raised his right arm and his weapon, Glacies Tempest, extended over his left arm to match. The bracer extended to cover his entire arm to his elbow while a plate extended to cover the back of his palm and his finger down to the second knuckle. Three small barrels popped out from the plate, each one between the first knuckles.

While that was deploying, Jaune started firing the submachine guns from the already deployed weapon on his right hand. Bursts of bullets erupted from the three barrels of his right hand, they impacted the beast's chest and leaving ice in their wake. The Ursa just roared and the ice broke as it slammed back down onto four legs and charged at the blonde siblings.

Jaune raised his left hand and started to rapidly fire more of his ice bullets from both halves of Glacies Tempest, to try to slow the beast down some. That's when he heard the shots from behind him and Yang flying past him to meet the Grimm head on with a punch. Yang managed to lay a few punches into the Grimm but it still batted her to the side.

As Yang was rolling back to her feet, Jaune was running forward before firing into the ground in front of him, creating a sheet of ice to slide on to go faster. As he got close enough, he jumped off the ground towards the beast. He pulled his left arm back and slammed it onto the Grimm's arm. On the impact, all of the ice Dust was released to form an ice-based explosion that instantly froze into a massive chunk of ice on its shoulder. Jaune tucked his legs in before kicking off the Grimm to get distance between them. "Yang!" he shouted.

Yang quickly switched her gauntlets to their ranged mode and fired off two shots. One slammed into the ice Jaune made, breaking it and doing severe damage to the beast while the other hit its chest for a lesser effect. The beast charged at her and she had to swap back to her melee form. Jaune had landed on his feet, about twenty feet to Yang's right as she did this. He clenched his left hand and the spent clip ejected from the side of his left gauntlet. He then slammed it onto the left side of his belt, directly on a clip before pulling down and loading in a fresh clip.

By the time he was done, the Ursa had already brought its arm down onto Yang as she was holding it back with one arm. Jaune started to fire off his fresh left gauntlet into the side of the Ursa, freezing a good portion of its side. That made it turn to him, giving Yang the chance to give it an uppercut to get it off her. Yang then shot into the air before using another shot to rocket herself into its chest for a kick. She pushed off it to get out of its range.

Yang then used another shot to slide between its legs and behind it. With that, Yang started to fire at it while Jaune raised his right arm to fire at it from the other side. The Ursa seemed unfazed, just annoyed. Yang shot forward again to deliver punches before it tried to swipe at her but Yang managed to catch it and hold it. The Grimm tried to bite down on her but Jaune rocketed forward with his aura and slam his right fist into the side of its head, creating another ice explosion.

With the left side of its face frozen into the closest thing to shock a Grimm could muster, Yang slammed her own fist into its chest and forcing it backwards. Jaune quickly ejected his spent clip before loading in another for his right gauntlet. The two then started to work perfectly together: Jaune staying a bit back with Yang staying close. At one point, the two would swap roles. That just happened to be when the ice finally shattered from its face and managed to clamp down on Jaune's stomach and chest, causing him to scream and his aura to take a massive hit.

"Jaune!" Yang screamed as the Grimm threw him to the side. He tumbled across the ground painfully before he stayed laying on his stomach. In her anger, she tried for a heavy punch but doing so left her wide open for the massive paw that slammed into her side and sending her flying out of the clearing. In her wake, she left a deep trench and knocked over several trees.

Jaune had managed to push himself up onto his knees. "Yang!" he shouted at what he saw happen to his sister. He was shocked but fear and anger were just below that and with that, a familiar heat started to form in his chest. He looked over to the Ursa that was slowly prowling over to him. He was about to get back onto his feet but as he tried, he and the Grimm heard a shocked gasp. They both turned to see that Ruby was leaning against a tree on shaky legs.

Jaune's eyes widened but before he could do anything, the Ursa charged full speed at Ruby. Seeing no other choice, Jaune raised his right hand with his palm facing the Grimm. In the years that Jaune had trained, he had mastered his Semblance and by doing so, has had it under lock and key. In the time since his mastering of it, he had only used it three times. And that was from fear and hatred on his Semblance. Even if he can't remember it, he just had his deep seated feeling that his Semblance had done something truly terrible. And he didn't want that to happen to his knew family.

He felt the familiar heat spread from his chest to down his arm. He felt the familiar but uncomfortable feeling of the hot energy of his aura mixing with the cold sensation of the metal on his arm. Most people were curious why his gauntlets covered his inner arms and why he only used ice Dust, this was that reason. The Dust made the metal colder to the touch and having his whole forearm covered in the metal made him hyper aware if the heat of his Semblance activated. Even with his mastery, in times of anger or fear, his Semblance could still act out against his will. This was another safeguard to prevent that from happening.

Silver flames coalesced into his palm and in his head, he was just thinking, 'Stay in control. Stay in control. Stay in control.', almost like a mantra. The flames then flew from his hand as a fireball, slamming into the back of the Grimm. On contact, the flames quickly spread across the entire back of the beast and causing the beast to stop its charge to roar in pain. In desperation, it tried to roll onto its back to try to snuff out the flames but to no avail.

Jaune's silver flames weren't actually fire. It took a while but they had found out that the silver fire was actually his aura. There have been Semblances that allowed people to create constructs out of their aura and Jaune's was one of those Semblances. Except Jaune's took on the characteristics of fire but not it'd weaknesses. The silver fire could burn underwater or in a vacuum as long as Jaune could supply it with aura. But he also had to be careful, his Semblance could actually start a real fire and that he would have no control over whatsoever.

Jaune used his aura to keep burning the Grimm but as it realized that the flames would not extinguished. It's eyes locked onto Ruby once again and started to charge. That was when a familiar battle cry rang out and Yang came rocketing in with her Semblance in full effect. Her fist slammed into the side of the beast's head and caved it in. Yang landed on her feet and slowly slid to a stop as the Grimm faded into smoke and silver embers.

With the Grimm dead, Jaune lowered his arm with a sigh before he hissed in pain. He looked down at his right hand and saw that it was covered in burns, just like every time he used his Semblance. "Jaune!" he heard two voices and saw his sisters running over to him.

They slid onto their knees up to him. Ruby was the first one to speak up, "Are you alight? I'm sorry. I didn't know how to help without my scythe. I'm so sorry." She said sadly.

Jaune just reached up with his left hand and gently rubbed her head, "It's okay, Ruby. I'm pretty sure my gunshots were what drew it to us, so it was my fault. So, no teary eyes, got it?" Ruby gave him a small smile and sniffle with that. He then turned to Yang, "You good? That was a big hit."

She nodded with a grin, "I'm fine. Another hit would've shattered my aura but luckily that didn't happen." She then grew serious. "How's your hand?"

He sighed and raised it to show them, "Same as usual. But it should heal up in a couple hours, like always." He slowly stood up and the two followed his lead, "Let's get home. Just in case another Grimm shows up." They nodded and the three siblings made their way back home.

* * *

It was now later in the evening and everyone in the Xiao Long-Rose family was getting ready for bed or already in it. Jaune was in his room, laying on his bed with his pillows supporting his back as he read a novel. He heard that reading before bed actually lead to better rest and it seemed to be working over the last few weeks he had been doing it. He was already in his pajamas, a white t-shirt and black shorts. He was about to finish the chapter he was on when he heard a knock on his door.

He looked over the top of his book to his door, "It's open." He said loud enough to be heard but not shouting.

His door opened up slowly and there stood Ruby in her pajama, "Hey, Jaune. You're still up."

He smirked, "Nope, I've trained myself to read and speak in my sleep." That earned a small chuckle from her. "So, what's up?"

She looked down for a second before making eye contact, "Can we talk?"

Sensing this was serious he closed his book, "Absolutely." He placed his book down on his right on a nightstand. He then slid over to be more center of his bed as he patted the right side of his bed. Ruby walked over and took the spot, instantly snuggling into her brother's side and resting her head on his shoulder. He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and gently rubbed her upper arm, "So, what's up?" he asked again.

She was silent for a bit, "I'm sorry." She said again.

"Ruby, you have nothing to be sorry-" he started.

"Not for the Grimm." She quickly said. "I'm sorry because I made you use your Semblance and you hurt your hand again."

Ruby had always been hung up on that part of his Semblance. She never really understood why his Semblance, an expression of his soul and self, would hurt him every time he used it. It was really the only reason she never tried to get him to overcome his feelings towards it. She couldn't imagining being afraid or hateful to her Semblance. To a part of herself.

Jaune sighed, "Never apologize for that, sis." She looked back up at him with her bright silver eyes and he gently kissed her forehead. "You and Yang are my precious sisters and I would do anything to protect you. Just like you two would do for each other and me." He smiled, "Besides, I'm all good. See?"

He let go of her arm and wiggled his fingers a foot or so away from her face. She smiled and gently took it in her own. She then spoke quietly as she held his hand, "I'm going to miss you two."

"We're going to miss you as well. But we'll be sure to come home as often as possible and just keep doing your best to get to Beacon with us. Deal?" He asked.

She nodded, "Deal." They sat there for a while and Ruby spoke up nervously, "Jaune?" he hummed in response. "I know we're a bit old for it but could I sleep here tonight?" she had a light blush as she said that.

That was true. The three of them used to sleep in the same bed often when they were younger but the last time was five or six years ago. He had the feeling that if turned her down, she wouldn't sleep to well after everything that had happened today though. And he'd be lying if he said he didn't miss that closeness that came with it So after a few seconds, he answered, "Sure. But just for tonight."

"Yay." She said tiredly as she let his hand go and wrapped him in a hug to drift off.

Jaune started to pull the blankets down and lay his pillows down so they could actually use them when he heard a voice come from the door, "Well, look at this." He looked over to see Yang leaning against the doorframe, also in her pajamas, with a smirk on her lips. "Aren't you two a bit old for that?"

"Jaune is still the best pillow." Ruby replied with her head still resting on his chest and eyes closed.

Jaune just looked down at her but before he could say anything, Yang chimed in, "Still? Damn, it sucks that only you get to do that. Looks like he has no space for his other sister."

Jaune looked up at her and she still had that teasing smirk. He just gave her a deadpanned expression, "Really?" Her smirk just widened. "And here I was about to make some room for you. Oh well." He shrugged, "Mind shutting the door for us?" He asked as he laid down with Ruby still holding him.

He laid there for thirty seconds with his eyes closed but he opened them to see Yang still standing there, gently biting your lip. "Yes, Yang?" he asked innocently.

She started to mess with her hair, a social tick that only showed up when she was nervous, "Can I…stay too?" she asked with a light blush.

Jaune just smiled, "Sure, sis. Just don't be too mad if we all wake up a bit cramped." He then started to slide to the right to give her some more space. Yang smiled before she shut the door and speed walked over to his side. She got in the bed and rested her head on the other side of his chest. She slid one arm under his back while the other went over his chest to half hug Ruby. "Night, Yang. Night Ruby."

Yang snuggled into his chest a bit more. "Night, Jaune. Night, Ruby."

Ruby nodded tiredly. "Night, Yang. Night, Jaune." With that, Jaune leant over to turn off his bedside lamp before wrapping an arm around each of his sisters. They soon all drifted off to sleep.


	3. Trouble with Sisters

A Flame in the Dark

It had been a few days since the Ursa incident and, by some miracle, Taiyang had not found out about it. What he did find out about was finding all three of his kids sleeping in Jaune's bed and cuddling together. Which he found to be adorable, especially with the fact that Zwei somehow snuck into the room later on in the night and was curled up on top of Jaune's stomach, nestled between the girls on either side.

So, he closed the door quietly and went down to make breakfast. It was twenty minutes or so, when the three came downstairs to eat and he proceeded to tease them all about it. That earned him a series of blushes from them all but most severe from Ruby, who tried to defend herself by saying 'Jaune is the best pillow!' Which made her father laugh like crazy and for her blush to deepen further.

That lasted for a while and the three finally got a break when the three decided to head into Vale to get some Dust ammunition to refill what they used against that Ursa and to prepare for Beacon and Signal respectively. The three were currently driving there on Yang's bike, Bumblebee, and Jaune's bike, Nightfall, which looked very similar to Yang's except its color scheme being black and white. The three drove down the busy roads of Vale, with Ruby riding with Jaune, the safer driver. The three eventually came to a stop in a parking lot just down the street from Dust til Dawn, their usual Dust shop. They originally only went there because Yang loved the pun but they kept coming back because the liked the service the older man gave them.

They all got off the bikes and took off their respectively colored helmets. Yang starting talking slightly annoyed, "We would've gotten here much quicker if we took my route."

Jaune rolled his eyes at his sister, "Yes but we also wanted to get here in one piece. Aura is good and all but it still hurts to get slammed into the pavement. Or a wall. Or another vehicle."

"Don't forget lampposts." Ruby added helpfully with a smile.

"That was one time!" Yang said in annoyance.

"Still one too many." Jaune told her with his smirk still in place. "Besides, I don't wanna waste another weekend helping you repair your bike, again."

"Come on, you helped me build Bumblebee. Who else would be better to help me fix it?" she asked.

"Yeah and you helped me with Nightfall, that doesn't change anything. Stop crashing your bike." Jaune told her sternly, which made her pout and cross her arms. Meanwhile, Ruby was covering her mouth to stop herself from giggling. "Alright, alright. Let's get our Dust and go to our usual restaurant for a quick bite before we head home."

His sisters quickly agreed before the three started to slowly make their way down the street. Ruby was excitingly saying how she wanted to get the newest weapon magazine to see if there was anything new coming out that could be used to improve any of their weapons. Both of the blonde siblings just smiled at her antics as they let her lead them as they added their two cents of occasions. As they were getting closer to the store, Yang pulled out her scroll to check it before she frowned slightly. Jaune noticed that, "Everything alright, Sis?"

Yang looked up at him before she pocketed her scroll. "Yeah, sorry. I forgot that there was something I had to do earlier. It completely slipped my mind until now."

Ruby quickly spoke up, "Oh, well if it's important, why don't you give me the money for your Dust? I can pick it up for you and you can meet us at the restaurant when you're done."

Yang gave her a beaming smile, "Really? Thanks, Ruby, you're the best little sister ever!" She then pulled out her wallet and handed the correct amount of Lien to her. "I'll take care of this as fast as I can and meet up with you guys in a bit." With that said, Yang turned around and went off in a brisk pace to where she parked her bike.

Jaune just watched his sister run down the street to the parking lot before he saw her pull out and drive down the street. He kept watching her even after she was out of sight and the sound of her engine was too far to hear. Being her brother for so long, he knew how she ticked and he just had this feeling in his gut that she was doing something dangerous and/or stupid.

"Jaune, you okay?" Ruby asked and he turned to his little sister. She was looking up at him in concern, "You've been staring down the street for a while."

He sighed, "Ruby, I hate to do this, but could you get my Dust as well?"

She raised an eyebrow in confusion, "Sure. But why?"

He scratched the back of his head slightly, "I just have the feeling that Yang-"

"Is going to do something either Dad doesn't approve of or will get her in serious trouble?" Ruby finished his sentence for him. He just blinked before nodding. Ruby lowered her head with a sigh before she look back up at him with a tiny smile, "Sure. Go on, go stop our sister."

Jaune just gave her a small smile before taking out the necessary amount of Lien plus extra, which confused her, "Get yourself something for having to deal with all this. Plus, you are the sister that isn't giving me a headache right now." He then ruffled her hair as she smiled up at him, "Meet us at the restaurant when you're done. And please, for the love of Oum, stay out of trouble."

Ruby playfully stuck her tongue out at him as he ran down the road to where he parked his bike. He jumped onto it before placing his helmet on his head before kicking the engine to life. He then started to race down the road and down the street that he saw Yang go down.

It didn't take him long to realize he had absolutely no idea on _where_ his sister took off to. He sighed to himself in annoyance before he pulled off to the side of the road. Once he was there, he pulled out his scroll to see if he could find her scroll's GPS signal. Their dad had set it up so that all four of their scrolls could be updated on their positions as long as they were on. They all had a sneaking suspicion that idea came from the way Jaune was introduced to their family and what could've happened to the two young girls.

It took a minute or so before the GPS came through. Luckily, she didn't think to turn off her scroll. So, he was hoping that was a sign that she wasn't doing anything terrible. He put her coordinate into his own GPS so it could give him directions before he pulled back down the street and towards where his sister was. As she kept following those directions, he was moving out of the main part of Vale and moving to a much seedier part of the Kingdom. That was making his hope diminish more and more.

He eventually came to where her scroll was, which appeared to be some sort of club. He noticed that Bumblebee was parked on the other side of the road from it. Jaune pulled over and parked his bike beside it. He turned it off before taking off his helmet and walking across the street to the club itself. He was then stopped by two bouncers wearing black suits, red ties and red sunglasses, "Sorry, man, club is full."

Jaune just looked at him before motioning his chin towards the door, "Did a young woman go in there recently. Slightly shorter than me, long blonde hair with lilac colored eyes?"

The two looked at each other before the other one answered, "Yeah. What about it?"

"Well, there is a good chance that she may or may not bring the place down if I don't go in there to check on her." He told them seriously.

The two of them started to laugh like crazy. The first one tried to speak through his laughter, "Yeah, good one, man." The kept laughing until they saw just how serious he was and their laughter slowly petered out until they were silent. "You're…you're serious?"

Jaune just nodded, "She has a hell of a temper and Hunter's training." That made them both pale. "Look, that's worst case scenario. Just let me go in and check on her. If it looks like it'll go bad, I'll bring her out with no fuss. If she is just having fun, I'll come right out and on my way. What do you say?"

The bouncers looked to each other for a few seconds before they stepped to the side to let him go in. He nodded and quickly made his way down the stairs in front of him and to the entrance of the club proper. Loud music was erupting through the room and a series of flashing lights flooded along with it. The club was completely packed with patrons who were enjoying themselves, both couples and singles by the looks.

Jaune quickly scanned the area, looking for his sister. He found her easily at the bar next to a rather large man dressed similar to the guys out front except he was missing the jacket. He then saw her grab the guy's crotch rather roughly and show him her scroll before he saw many other guys looking like the ones out front surround them and aim guns at her.

Jaune started to march towards the group of men and his sister. His high emotions was triggering his Semblance just enough to heat the air around him enough to make anyone start to sweat from close proximity. He reached the group of men and started to push his way through, not carrying in the slightest what they thought. They would've tried to stop him if it wasn't for the serious expression and the heat radiating off him acting as a great deterrent.

He eventually got through all the men and was beside his sister and the behemoth of a man but neither had noticed him yet. He reached out and grabbed the wrist of her offending hand, gripping it tightly. Yang spun around to probably tell him off but that anger faded quickly.

Her eyes widened in shock and her mouth fell open as Jaune just stared her in the eyes with a serious and cold look. He only had that look in his eyes when she seriously messed up. And if she was being completely honest, she hated to see him look it her like that; it made her heart drop and felt like a lead pull settled into her stomach.

"Let go." Was all he said to her. Her grip instantly went limp and the man let out a sigh of relief. "We're leaving." He told her and he turned around to drag her behind him.

Or he would've of if the guys around them didn't aim their weapons at them once again. Then a deep voice behind them sounded out, "I don't think so. She needs to pay for what she did."

Jaune just looked at the man with a hardness in his eyes, "I wouldn't recommend that."

"Yeah and why is that?" he asked confidently.

"Well, for one, my sister is highly trained and has a temper. She could bring this entire place down with ease." He let that sink in before he continued, "But the other is me. If any of you touch even a hair on her head, and I won't leave rubble in my wake. Just ash." There was an edge to his voice and the heat around him increased again. Yang was unaffected since she was already used to it from all the time they spent together and had to deal with her own brand of heat form her own Semblance. Although, she was still stunned by him being there in the first place and just how serious he was. It had been a long time since he was like this.

The leader and all of his men weren't so lucky. They were sweating profusely and some of the nearby patrons were also starting to back away from the heat and from just how bad the situation was looking. "So, what's it going to be?" he asked them all.

All the men turned to their leader and after a few seconds, just shook his head. "Let them go." They all quickly holstered their guns and started to part so the two blondes could leave unimpeded. Jaune just nodded at the big guy before he turned back to the entrance and started to lead Yang out of that place.

But it looked like the universe had it out for him that day. Not even halfway to the exit, two twins, not much older than him, were walking towards him. One dressed in white and the other in red, with both having looks on their faces he did not like. "Did you see that, Miltia?" the one in white spoke up.

The one in red, Miltia, nodded, "Oh, I did, Melanie. When was the last time we've seen Junior buckle to anyone?"

Melanie just shook her head, "It has been some time. You must be something special." She stared up at him and both were now only a few feet away from him.

Jaune just looked at the two and could guess just where this was going but he had other priorities to deal with. Mostly getting his renegade sister out of this place. "I'm nothing special. If you'll excuse me, we need to get going."

He tried to push by them but Melanie wrapped her arms around his free one and held it close to her chest. He could feel her hands travel over his bicep and feeling the muscles under his shirt. "Why the rush? Stay with us and we can show you some real fun." She said flirtatiously.

Miltia walked in front of him and placed her hand on his chest, slowly tracing circles. She fluttered her eyelashes at him, "We can share with you an amazing experience. It's been a while since someone like you caught our eyes."

"Get your hands the hell off him, you bitches!" came the very familiar shout of his sister from behind him. He turned to see her eyes now red and her teeth clenched in anger. This wouldn't be the first time he had seen Yang act this way. She had done it to plenty of girls that were too flirtatious with him. He thought that she was being overprotective like she was with Ruby. He eventually found out that a lot of those girls had rather unsavory reputations around Signal, so he thanked her for that. Although some of the other girls didn't, so he wasn't a hundred percent sure why she chased them off. But he was sure she had her reasons.

The twins did not look too happy with that and the two glared at her, "What's your problem?" Melanie hissed at her. "Why don't you get out of here before you regret-" She was cut off when Yang's fist collided with her face. She was forced to let go of Jaune's arm and was sent flying across the club and land in the center of the dancefloor, causing some of the patrons to scatter. Miltia didn't have time to react before another hit sent her into her twin. Yang deployed Ember Celica and ran after them.

Jaune placed a hand over his eyes and dropped his head slightly. He sighed in defeat, "So damn close." And that was when the three women got into the mother of all cat fights with him wondering how he was going to stop her now.

"Uh, think we should stop that?" he heard one of the men say behind him.

"I'm not going anywhere near that." Said another.

"What should we do, boss?" asked a third.

There was a moment of silence, "As much as I don't want that to continue in my club, this could be useful. Maybe the twins will teach that blonde bitch a lesson."

Jaune's whole body went stiff before another, angrier, sigh just escaped him. "Oum damn it." He muttered under his breath before his hand gripped the hilt of Stalwart on his left hip. It looked like a sword with half a blade but as his hand wrapped around it, the other half shot out of it to reveal the full blade.

Stalwart looked very similar to his Uncle Qrow's Harbinger. The noticeable differences were that it was more of the size of a longsword compared to the greatsword-sized blade of Harbinger and the blade was double-edged. There was no clockwork like gears in the center of the hilt, Jaune going for a sleeker and stream-line look. He also had a pair of parallel handguards on either side of it, creating a cross guard. And instead of shotgun barrels, were a pair of just as long but thinner, vent-like barrels.

He pulled the sword free from his belt before he spun around and leapt towards the massive man. Junior was in the middle of smirking at one of his employees before he turned back just in time for Jaune's left fist to slam into the side of his face and sending him over the bar.

While in the air, Jaune spun himself before he plunged Stalwart's blade into the ground below him and squeezed the trigger mechanism. At that moment, dark-bluish mist erupted from the barrels on each side of his sword. As it came in contact with the ground, the Dust mist froze it and started to spread out rapidly until all the employees around him were trapped, their legs from the knees down frozen.

He pulled his sword free and stood tall, still glaring at where Junior fell over the bar. "Stay put." Was all he growled out as he charged towards the man that insulted his sister. He just managed to stand up from behind the bar as he saw Jaune rocketing towards him. He quickly managed to bring up his massive club and used it to block the blade that would've slashed across his chest.

With his momentum stopped, Jaune's feet landed on the bar. He then started to deliver a series of quick slashes against the bar owner. Junior was just managing to block the slashes but was slowly being forced to step backwards. Jaune following him the whole time by walking on the bar itself. He eventually found a slight opening and managed to deliver a heavy horizontal swing. Jaune just managed to bring his sword up to block it but was still sent skidding across the bar top.

As soon as he came to a stop, he shot off again with another burst of his aura. He was on Junior again and brought down Stalwart with a downward, two-handed swing. Junior managed to block it again but Jaune released more Dust onto his weapon, coating the entire thing in a massive chunk of ice. Not expecting the added weight, Junior shifted backwards slightly and he had to use his other hand to support it.

That gave Jaune the perfect opportunity to jump up and onto the club and drive Junior backwards and onto the ground, back first. Junior groaned from the impact and looked up just in time to see Jaune bringing down his sword directly towards his face. At the last second, the blade moved just enough to miss his head and stab into the ground between his head and shoulder. That caused the man to gasp in relief before his left shoulder and upper arm, left side of his neck and left side of his chest were covered in ice.

Junior just stared up at Jaune as he glared back at him. He was still standing on top of him and driving his frozen club into his chest, making it hard to breathe. He became laser focused by what the blonde above him said next, "You _ever_ call my sister a bitch again, and the next time this will end way worse. Do I make myself clear?" He practically hissed the last part and Junior couldn't shake his head quick enough.

Jaune just stared him down for ten full seconds before he removed his sword from the ground and stepped off the man. Jaune started to walk towards his sister who had just about finished up her own fight. His eyes lingered on the other men he had froze before, making sure they didn't try anything. None of them even raised their weapons at him. With that, he collapsed his sword back into its standby mode before he saw his sister lay Melanie out with a spin kick to the face.

She was looking around with her hair glowing from her Semblance. When her eyes landed on her brother, she froze and her hair stopped glowing after a few seconds. The two just stared at each other, one in concern and trepidation while the other was just neutral. Jaune motioned to the door with his head, "Come on." Is all he said as he started to walk away. He heard her quickly running over to catch up to him along with the telltale sounds of her weapons collapsing back down into their compact form.

The two made their way out of the club without issue, most of the patrons left after Yang threw the twins. While the remaining of them, let them go unhindered after seeing what the two just did. Luckily they didn't cause too much damage to the establishment. The worse would probably be the ice he left but that would melt, eventually.

They walked out and the two bouncers just stared at them as they walked across the street and to their bikes. Neither spoke as they mounted their own bikes and put on their helmets. Both engines were kicked into life and the two bikes took off down the street, with Nightfall in the lead.

Several minutes later, the two pulled into a familiar restaurant and parked in their normal spots. With that, they shut off their engines and the two started to walked towards the entrance. Jaune was still refusing to look at his sister while Yang was feeling more and more like a child that got caught doing something they shouldn't have. They walked in and were greeted by a familiar waitress, "Well, if it isn't the Xiao Long siblings. What bring you here?"

Jaune smiled at her, "The usual, Shelly. We needed to get some Dust before going to Beacon and we decided to come here afterwards. Can we get our usual table?"

She looked into the restaurant and grinned, "Lucky for you, its free." She grabbed a couple menus before looking up, "Is Ruby going to be here too?" Jaune just nodded with the smile still on his lips. Shelly nodded before grabbing the third menu and escorting them to their table. The two sat down, on opposite sides of the table, as she placed the menus on the table. "I'll grab your usual drinks." Was all she said as she went off to get them.

That left the two to sit in a tense silence. Yang just stared at the table like a scolded child while Jaune just looked out the window uncaring. They sat like that for a few more minutes with Shelly giving them their drinks. When she left, Yang finally managed to speak up, "I'm sorry."

Jaune finally looked over to her, "What the hell were you even doing there?" The slight edge he had in his tone caused her to flinch. "I mean, if you were going to just go there to have fun, that's one thing. But I think we both know it wasn't that since you tried to lie to me and Ruby. And what I saw when I walked in."

Yang looked down again before she slowly pulled out her scroll and selected a picture before sliding it to him. Jaune looked down to see a very blurry picture of her mother. Jaune just looked at it and sighed, letting just the slightest bit of his frustration out with it. "Trying to find anything on your mother." She just nodded. "Why wouldn't you tell us or at least me, Yang?"

Yang just stayed silent for a little bit, "I know you and Ruby wouldn't care. But dad does… and I'm so used to doing this on my own. Besides you've never seen too interested in looking for your family so I just thought you wouldn't be interested in helping me…"

Jaune just looked into her eyes for a second, "Because my family is either dead or didn't want me." He said with a finality to his voice. "_Why_ would I want to know who they are?"

The two now sat in a very uncomfortable silence until his scroll just started to go off. He looked down to see that it was Ruby. He answered the call and brought it up to his ear, "Hey, Ruby. You on your way?"

"Hey, Jaune. Um, is Yang there with you?" she asked.

Jaune felt something was off with her voice, like something as bothering her. "Yes, I found her. Why?"

"Oh, um, I was hoping you two could come pick me up." She sniffled slightly. "I'm kinda being detained at the police station and I need someone to get me."

Jaune's eyes went wide before he stood up, "We're on our way now, Ruby." He then left enough Lien on the table for the drinks they didn't drink and a good tip for Shelly. He looked at Yang who was just looking back at him in confusion, "Ruby is being detained at the police station."

"What!?" she said in shock before she stood up and raced to the door with Jaune right behind her.

"We gotta go, Shelly. Money is on the table!" he shouted to the stunned waitress. As they were making it to their bikes, he had just one thought going through his mind, 'What in the hell did Ruby manage to do?'


	4. Reconciliation and Next Steps

A Flame in the Dark

Jaune and Yang flew down the streets of Vale like bats out of Hell. Their bikes dodging through traffic skillfully as the two Xiao Longs tried to get to the Vale Police Department as quickly as possible. Luckily, they didn't run into anyone or anything. They got there in record time regardless and Jaune was surprised they hadn't gotten pulled over for what they just pulled.

Getting there turned out to be the easy part. Calming Yang down so Jaune wouldn't have both sisters arrested was the difficult part. She kept demanding to see her sister but the officer kept telling them they had to question her about her run in with Roman Torchwick. That shocked both of the blondes and made Yang go into a frenzy to try and get to her younger sister to make sure she was okay. Jaune luckily was able to get his arms around her stomach and chest and was able to hold her back. "We'll wait. Thank you of your time, Officer."

The officer just nodded as Jaune slowly dragged Yang over to one of the chairs and forced her to sit down. "Yang, calm down before you get yourself arrested. I barely stopped you from getting the police called on you earlier and you do not need to have a record before even starting Beacon. Not to mention what Dad would say when he found out."

That seemed to get to her since she stopped her flailing and crossed her arms with an unhappy look on her face. Jaune sighed and sat down next to her with his arms crossed and eyes closed to patiently wait for his sister to be released. After a few minutes to calm down completely, Yang looked over to her brother and was about to say something before she thought otherwise. With how frustrated at her he was earlier; it would be best to give him some time. He rarely got too annoyed at her but when he did, she knew he needed some space to calm down completely. If not, it would just linger and make the whole situation that much worse to move on from.

A few minutes later, the two looked up to see Ruby walking up the hallway with a woman dressed in purple and an older man in green. Despite how upset she seemed over the call; Ruby looked ecstatic now. She saw her siblings and waved excitedly. That was enough for Yang to run across the room and scoop her up into a near crushing hug, "You had me so worried!" she shouted as Ruby just offered a pained groan in response.

Jaune just shook his head with a small grin as he walked up to them, "You alright, Ruby? Didn't get hurt?"

Ruby just managed to wriggle her way out of her sister's arms and got her feet back on the ground. She gave her a mild glare for the soreness of her ribs. She then turned to her brother with a smile, "I'm fine, Jaune. A little dinged up and smelling like smoke but I'm okay. Especially thanks to Miss Goodwitch." She added as she motioned to the women to her left.

Jaune gave a quite sigh and gently ruffled her hair, "Good to know." He then turned to the woman with a grateful smile, "Thank you."

Goodwitch just looked him over before she gave him a curt nod, "It was no issue, it is my job after all. Even though I do not agree with her actions." She leveled a glare at Ruby that caused her to wince a bit. "I would not allow someone so young to get in over their heads."

That caused Ozpin to chuckle, "Still as professional as always, Glynda. No one would hold it against you if you admit that you deeply care about the younger generation and want to keep them safe." The older man said with a smirk that he tried to hide behind his coffee mug. Goodwitch turned to him and leveled him with a more intense glare but the faint tint of pink on her cheeks just slightly dulled the heat of it. He then turned his gaze to Ruby, "You have a nice night, Miss Rose, and we will see you when the semester starts." Ruby nodded and the older siblings just looked confused before he turned to them, "Same goes to you , Mister and Miss Xiao Long." With that, he turned to the door and walked out of the precinct with Goodwitch not far behind him.

Yang then turned to her sister, "Uh, Ruby, who was that and what did he mean he'd see you next semester?"

She looked up to both of them , "Oh, that was Professor Ozpin-"

"That was Professor Ozpin?!" Yang shouted in shock and looked back to the door to stare at it.

"And he offered me a spot at Beacon and I accepted." She finished excitedly.

"Wait, he did what?!" Jaune asked in shock.

"Oh my Oum, our baby sister is going to Beacon with us!" she scooped up the reaper again to hold her tightly, "This is the best day ever!"

Ruby just managed to groan out a 'Please, stop.' As Jaune just stared at the two in shock. This wasn't even close to what he was expecting to get into when they left to get Dust a couple of hours ago. He then placed his face in his hand and groaned as the reality of everything finally came to him, "Just how in the hell are we going to explain this to Dad?"

* * *

Explaining what happened to Taiyang was not an easy experience to go through. Before they even got home, the VPD had called ahead of them to tell him what had happened since Ruby was still a minor. So as soon as they walked through the door, their dad was sitting in his chair in the living room and was just giving them the look that just screamed 'You are in so much trouble.'

So that lead to Jaune and Yang explaining how they allowed their younger sister to get into a fight with the most wanted man in Vale. Which was difficult because neither wanted to tell him that Yang had gone to try to get information on her mother and ended up with both of them getting into bar fights. Both knew that she would get into a lot of trouble for that and as much as Jaune was annoyed with her, he didn't want to throw her under the bus. So they came up with the excuse that Yang needed to help one of her friends that was in a jam and she then called Jaune for an added hand.

Taiyang bought it and eventually calmed down since he really couldn't be mad at them. It wasn't like the two knew Torchwick was going to rob that Dust shop and left their sister there to deal with it. He then congratulated Ruby for making it in early but Jaune could tell that he was both nervous and sad to see his youngest girl heading off to Beacon already.

Instead of calling him out on it, Jaune decided to go with the subtle way of convincing everyone to have a family movie night before they went off to Beacon. They all agreed since it had been a very long time since they did that last and would do it tomorrow because it was already so late. They all started to relax before bed and Tai gave Jaune a very grateful smile, knowing exactly what his son had done for him. He just gave his dad a hug before he went to go grab something to eat since none of them actually ate dinner.

A few days after that, things between Yang and Jaune hadn't been fixed yet. It wasn't like he was hostile to her but more like he avoided her as often as he could. He would act normally around her for the most part but the usual warmth he had for just seemed to be dulled slightly. And honestly, Yang wasn't a big fan of it. Even with her party girl and tough as nails persona she displayed to most people, at her core she was someone that absolutely adored being surrounded by the people she loves. So Jaune being this distant for this long, about twice as long as he usually would be when he was upset with her, was more torturous for her compared to if he just shouted at her. And she knew she would have to talk to him if she wanted to fix this.

Which was why she was anxiously standing outside his bedroom door. She took a deep breath, "You can do this. You've fought Grimm for Oum's sake, you can handle a conversation with your brother." With that little pep-talk, she raised her hand and knocked on his door, "Hey, Jaune, can I come in?"

There was a moment of silence, "Yeah, sure, Yang." With his permission, she opened her door to see that he had Glacies Tempest on his desk and was cleaning the barrels with a tiny cylindrical brush, "I'm just making sure the barrels are clean of any Dust residue. Would hate to have them backfire on me. When was the last time you did this for your weapons?"

Yang instantly looked to the side and started to rub the back of her neck, "Not too long ago." Jaune looked up from his work to give her an even stare. She eventually caved and chuckled sheepishly, "Okay, okay. It has definitely been a while."

Jaune sighed before turning back to his gauntlet to finish cleaning the last barrel of that one, "If it wasn't for me and Ruby, I'm sure you would've blown off your hand by now."

Yang instantly gripped her right hand and started to rub it, "Don't even joke about that. That would be devastating." Jaune didn't say anything else and finished up his gauntlet before shifting it into its compact mode. He but it off to the side and picked up its twin to start doing the same thing. Yang stood by the door for a minute or so as her brother kept doing maintenance on his weapon. She sighed before she shut the door and took a seat on his bed so she was behind him, "Jaune, can we please talk?"

Jaune stopped for a second before he sighed. He placed his weapon and brush down on the desk before he turned his chair around to look at her, "Sure. What about?"

"You've been acting very distant with me since the club incident and I know why." She took a deep breath, "I know you were mad that I lied to you and went off without thinking things through. And when you came to help me, I brought up your original family and that was a low blow. And I'm sorry."

There was a silence from Jaune as Yang just looked at him nervously. He closed his eyes and exhaled from his nose. He opened his eyes, "I'm not mad about the family jab, Yang. Never knew them so it doesn't really bother me. Made peace with that long ago."

Yang tilted her head slightly, "Then what's been bothering you?"

Jaune just stared at her for a bit, "I'm upset because we weren't there for Ruby."

That confused her even more, "But she was fine and she made it to Beacon because of-"

"That doesn't make it better, Yang." Jaune said in a hard tone that shut her up instantly. That was a new tone to her and it wasn't a good one. "Because of what you did, neither one of us were there when Ruby fought the most infamous criminal with Hunter's training in Vale. Yeah, Ruby is a prodigy but we both know just how strong a Huntsman can be. If he took Ruby more seriously or if Goodwitch wasn't there to help her out….I don't wanna think about that. I don't."

That shut Yang up and she looked down to the floor. She was so relieved to know Ruby was okay and thrilled to know she was going to Beacon with her and Jaune, that she completely overlooked that part. Yeah, they fought against their dad and Qrow a lot but they were holding back so they could actually learn. If either wanted to, they could easily beat them. Maybe working together they could take on one of them but it would be a shock if they could actually beat them.

She wasn't saying that Roman was at their level but he could be close. It wouldn't be outlandish to think that Torchwick was only messing with Ruby. But if he was serious, then it would be very likely Ruby wouldn't have stood a chance. That caused a shiver to go down her spine, "I-I hadn't thought about that but you're right. R-ruby could've…could've…"

She stopped speaking when he felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked up and saw that it was indeed Jaune, who had got out of his chair and walked over to her. She had the beginning of tears in her eyes and both knew just how rare those were. His hands went to her upper arms and gently pulled her up. She didn't fight and instantly stood up to hold him tightly. Jaune just held her as he felt her shake slightly ever so often. His hand gently rubbing her back to try to soothe her.

Eventually she did stop and she spoke up in an uneven voice, "I guess I understand why you're pissed at me now."

He sighed yet again, "It takes a lot for me to get pissed at you or Ruby. This situation is close but not too bad. I was very annoyed at you for everything up til that point. But I was angrier at the whole situation and the fact we weren't there for our sister. The distance was just so I could work through this so I didn't take it out on you. Besides, you know Ruby hates it when we are at odds with each other."

She looked up at him with a weak smile, "I think you would've been in the right to do be. And Ruby would've understood. It's not like we haven't been mad at each other before."

He shrugged, "Maybe. But I hate being angry with you too though."

She just looked at his chest for a second before looking back into his eyes, "I am sorry, Jaune. I can't say that enough."

He nodded and left a kiss on her forehead, "I know, Yang. And I do forgive you."

She hugged him a bit tighter, "Thank you." They hugged for a little bit longer before they puled apart. "I do have one question though. But considering we just made up, I don't wanna get on your bad side again."

That made him chuckle, "I'll try not to get upset, what is it?"

She started to mess with her hair as she spoke up, "If you ever did meet your family, would you want to speak to them?"

Jaune thought about it for a bit before he spoke up, "I guess I would just ask them, 'What had happened?' or 'Why did they give me up?' I think that would be it." He looked out his window as he said the next part, "Maybe just get closure." He turned back to his sister with that, "But that doesn't really matter anymore. I have my family and I'm happy."

Yang smiled at him and gently tapped her fist to his shoulder, "And we love you. Got it?"

His smile broadened, "Absolutely. Now, go grab your weapons and come back. I'd feel better once I _know _they are cleaned properly." He sat back down in his chair and worked on his weapon again.

Yang rolled her eyes at him, "Fine. That way you'll stop nagging me. You know, you can be as bad as Dad." She said as she walked to his door.

Jaune didn't bother to look up but smirked as he said, "Love you too, Sis."

She left his door open as she made her way to her room to grab Ember Celica. The entire way there and back, she had an unrestrained smile on her lips. Things were back to the way that they were supposed to be and her heart soared with that.

* * *

It had been a few more days and it was finally time for the three Xiao Long/Rose kids to be on their way to Beacon. All their stuff was already loaded onto the airship and they were all saying goodbye to their dad. Taiyang was currently hugging his oldest daughter, "You'll do fine, I know it. Just promise to keep an eye on Ruby and don't get into too much trouble, okay?"

Yang smirked, "Come on, Dad. It's me."

Tai pulled away to look her in the eyes, "I know, that's why I'm saying it." That made her give him a slight pout mixed with a glare. That made him chuckle, "I know you'll make everyone proud, my Sunny Little Dragon."

Yang's eyes went wide and she blushed, "Dad, don't call me that in public!" she hissed at him and her father just laughed. She just punched him on the arm, "You are such a jerk." She said with a hint of a smile on her lips.

As the two blondes completely separated, Ruby quickly took he chance to hug her father. "I'm going to miss you, Dad."

Tai just held her tight, "Same here, sweetheart. But, as much as I don't wanna admit it, Ozpin knows what he's talking about. So, you're ready. Just be careful, okay. If you have any problems, don't forget your brother and sister will be there for you."

She looked up at him, "I will. But I'm not a kid anymore, I can handle myself just fine." She said with a smile.

Tai just smiled at her, "I know. But even adults need help from time to time. Keep that in mind." He then gave her a kiss to the top of her head.

It was finally Jaune's turn and the two gave each other a tight hug, "We got this, Dad." Jaune spoke first.

He nodded, "I know you do. Just keep an eye on your sister's for me, alright?"

Jaune snorted, "I would've done that regardless." They pulled apart and he gave his father a grin, "I'll make sure they don't get into anything beyond the usual."

Tai just grinned, "If you could get them to cut down on the 'usual' too, that would probably be best for everyone."

"Hey!" the sisters shouted in annoyance. That just caused the father and son to laugh. And with that, the three made their way onto the airship, each waving to their father one last time before they disappeared onto the airship. Things looked like it would only go up from there as they started to make their way to Beacon and fulfill their dreams. Or it would've if not for one thing: Jaune's motion sickness.

He did take his medication way before he got onto the ship but an hour into it, he wasn't feeling so great. Which was why he was laying on one of the benches besides one of the many windows. He had his eyes closed and he was letting out tiny groans of discomfort every so often. It wasn't the feeling he got when he felt like he was going to vomit but just pain of his stomach feeling like it was in tight knots.

The impromptu pillow under his head and the fingers running through his hair were helping but he still wasn't doing alright. "How are you doing, Jaune?" Ruby asked.

Jaune opened his eyes and looked up directly at Yang's face. She had offered her lap to him as a pillow to make him more comfortable and he wasn't going to argue that it was way better than the bench itself. She was looking at him in mild concern as she continued to slowly rake her fingers through his hair. He shifted his eyes up towards his hair and could now see Ruby sitting next to Yang with a more concerned look on her face.

"I'm doing okay, Rubes." He gave her a smile to make her feel better. That was until the airship shifted slightly and he closed his eyes again with yet another groan. "Maybe okay isn't the right word but I could be worse. At least, Yang's lap is comfortable."

Yang smirked, "I'll take that as a compliment. Although, I'm pretty sure the 'pillows' on my chest are _way_ better." She teased.

"Yang!" Ruby reprimanded before slapping her on the arm.

Jaune probably would've agreed with Ruby but he just didn't have enough energy for that in his situation. So he just shrugged, "Maybe but if I did that, it would give everyone the wrong idea." He exhaled slowly, "I'm just glad I took my medicine beforehand. Me puking everywhere would not be a great first impression."

Yang chuckled, "Yeah and imagine how bad that would be for Ruby and I. Being the sisters of the guy that puked first day would be devastating."

"I'm going to lay on the floor now." Jaune said in annoyance as he tried to sit up.

He was stopped when Yang's other hand landed on his forehead and pushed him back down to lay on her lap, "No, you won't. Just relax until we get to Beacon. You know I'm just messing with you."

Jaune sighed in a mix or resignation and lesser annoyance. That was when he felt a pair of lips on his head before the owner pulled away. The owner soon spoke up, "Don't worry, Jaune. I still love you." Ruby said.

Jaune smiled before reaching his arm up over his head and ruffling her hair gently. "And I love you too." She giggled and he put his arm down.

"And what about me?" Yang asked as her hand stopped going through his hair.

Jaune didn't even bother to open his eyes, "I'm withholding until I get an apology. Punishment for you messing around with your ill, older brother." He said with a smirk.

"You aren't my older brother. We are the same age." She said in annoyance. She always did hate when he tried to pull that card. No one in their family knew when Jaune's actual birthday was, so they used the day when he officially became part of their family. They knew he was Yang's age but not if he was older than her or not. And with no one able to confirm or deny the claim besides Yang, he could always bring up to annoy her for his own amusement.

Jaune's smirk didn't waver, "Everyone else in the family agrees with me, so you've been outvoted. I'm also taller and more mature so I'm the ideal candidate to be the eldest sibling. Besides, don't you all those times you ran into my room in the middle of the night when you had a nightmare? You always called me 'Big Bro' when I held you until you fell asleep."

He cracked his eyes open enough to see Yang's face become as red a cherry. He absolutely _loved_ that he was the only one that could get her like this. He was also secretly proud of it. "I was like eleven." She hissed at him in a low voice so no one else would hear her. "I haven't called you that in ages."

Jaune shrugged again and the smirk never leaving, "Doesn't matter. You've already said it, so there's nothing you can do to change it." He closed his eyes again, "Don't worry though, I know you're too big and strong to tell me how you feel. But that's the burden of being the eldest."

There was an extended silence and Jaune was just resting in it peacefully. He was considering it his victory against Yang. Plus he was serious, he knew his sisters loved him. So they didn't have to tell him it. He then felt another pair of lips on his forehead and as Yang pulled away she spoke up, "Sorry for teasing you on something you have literally no control over. And I do love you, you big jerk."

His smirk shifted into a smile with those words. Just because he didn't _need_ them to say it, didn't mean he didn't appreciate it every time they did. "Apology accepted. I love you too, Yang." Jaune answered.

The three sat like that for several more minutes. Ruby's hand joined her sister's with playing with his hair but he really didn't mind. It felt good and it was soothing him just a bit. They did start to hear the other passengers get excited and start making their way to the windows. All three were curious so Jaune got up to free his sisters and the three looked out the window they were next to. That's when they saw it: Beacon Academy in all its glory. All three had big smiles on their faces as they just kept staring at it.

The three were happy to be doing it with their siblings. Like every other challenge they faced so far, they would do it the only way they knew how. Together. What could possibly go wrong?


	5. First Step of Beacon

A Flame in the Dark

Jaune, Ruby and Yang slowly made their way off the airship along with all the other applicants. The three were just taking in all the sights of Beacon, up close and personal. Jaune also relishing in the fact that his stomach had settled down, now that he was on solid ground. They were all in awe by Beacon and all its glory. It kind of reminded them of the old castles that were in the stories they read when they were younger. He was sure he read those stories to Ruby just as often as Yang did.

Jaune just smiled as he saw Ruby start to do her usually thing when she saw other people like them: start gushing how awesome or amazing the weapons around her were. Jaune just chuckled as Yang gave her a deadpanned expression. As Ruby started to move over to one of these weapons, and most likely freak out the owner, Yang snatched her sister by her hood and pulled her back to them. "Easy there, little sis, they're just weapons."

Ruby's eyes went wide and she gasped. Jaune placed his hand over his eyes and sighed, "Oh no." he said with a tiny grin.

"Did you just say, 'just weapons'? They're an extension of ourselves. They're part of us. Not to mention they're so cool!" Ruby started her tirade.

"Well, why can't you swoon over your own weapon? I though you were happy with it?" Yang started.

Ruby instantly unfurled her scythe and held it close, "Of course I'm happy with Crescent Rose, she's like my baby." She then glared at her sister, "But you wouldn't understand my bond with my weapon. Since you neglect your own so often."

Yang looked stunned by that, "What do you mean? I take care of my weapons all the time."

"Then how come Jaune was helping you clean them a few days ago?" Ruby accused with a smirk that was so Yang-like, anyone who believed they weren't sisters would be proven wrong instantly.

Her eyes widened before she turned to Jaune, "You told her?" Jaune raised his hands up in mock surrender and Ruby answered, "You two left the door open. If you wanted to keep it a secret, you should've closed the door." She sighed, "You're going to blow your hand off at this rate."

"Will you two stop saying that!?" Yang spoke with a clear amount of annoyance in her voice. She then pointed at her sister, "And don't try to get us off track, we were discussing your weapon obsession."

"It's not an obsession." Ruby denied instantly. "I just like seeing new ones, okay. It's like meeting new people but better…"

Jaune gave her a sympathetic look as Yang ruffled her hair, just before she playfully pulled her hood over her head, "Ruby, come on, why don't you go try and make some friends of your own?"

Ruby pulled her hood off her head as she looked at her sister in confusion, "Why would I need friends, I have you two?"

"Well…" Yang started and Jaune was stunned when several of her friends from Signal surrounded the two blondes, like they just materialized. "Actually, our friends are here. We gotta go catch up. Okay, see you, bye!" Before Jaune knew it, Yang's arm wrapped around his own and he was forcefully dragged away from his little sister. The suddenness of the speed was enough to spin Ruby around and disorientating her severely. Jaune just watched her as he continuously pulled away.

Jaune finally managed to get her to stop when they were a good distance away from Ruby. He was honestly stunned by how far they had gone in such a short time. He looked his sister in the eyes as her friends stopped twenty or so feet in front of them. "Okay, so mind explaining why you just borderline abducted me away from our sister?"

Yang sighed but didn't let go of his arm, "Jaune, I love Ruby to death but she'll never come out of her shell if she stays with us all the time."

"So, you decided to push her into the deep end to sink or swim?" Jaune asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Hey, it works!" Yang defended her actions.

Jaune sighed while massaging his forehead with his free hand. "For you, Yang. You take every challenge head on and erupt onto any seen like a golden flame." That compliment made her smile. "Or a spontaneous combustion." That earned him a slap on his trapped arm. "But that is not how it works for Ruby. You know how much trouble she had back at Signal."

They both did. Because of Yang and Jaune's skills and the sheer number of admires they got when maturity hit them, a lot of people Ruby's age tried to be her friend just as a way to get closer to her siblings. At first, she was too naïve to know this but eventually she figured it out and it hurt her deeply. And the tears she had shed that day nearly made Yang and Jaune get onto the evening news for the amount of faces they wanted to break. After that, Ruby did make a number of friends that liked her for her. But aside from them, she didn't look for others out of fear they would just want to use her again.

What Yang didn't know was that it did happen one or two other times after that. Except Ruby would come to Jaune for a shoulder to cry on since she didn't want Yang to get in further trouble. Jaune would help soothe his little sister and the next time there were training spars in class, he would savagely beat the living crap from out of the culprit. It soon became clear that trying to use Ruby to get to Yang or Jaune was not worth it and they stopped. It even stopped the one or two morons that tried to get close to him to get close to either of his sisters. Then again, those idiots got a good case of frostbite for their plotting.

Yang looked down at remembering that, "Yeah…I know. But it should be different now, right?"

Jaune shrugged, "It should but that doesn't mean she isn't worried that it'll happen all over again."

She looked down again, "I kinda feel like a jackass now."

Jaune leant forward and kissed her on the forehead and she looked back up to him. He gave her a tiny smile, "Don't worry about it, Yang. You just want the best for her, you just don't think through your plans all the way." He finished with a smirk.

Yang smiled just the tiniest bit before she gently pushed him by leaning her weight onto him. It wasn't nearly enough to tip him over but it did serve to get her ppint across. "Jerk."

He shrugged, "Maybe. Look why don't you hang out with them and I'll keep an eye on Ruby."

Yang raised an eyebrow, "You don't wanna catch up with everyone?"

Jaune gently scratched the back of his head, "Yang, they are more your friends than mine." That was the truth. Even though they hung out a lot, they were really Yang's friend. They just never clicked with Jaune, not in a negative way but more of like Jaune was an acquaintance than friend. The only thing they really had in common was Yang but neither wanted to point that out and hurt the blonde woman.

Yang tilted her head in confusion, "What does that mean?"

Jaune just shook his own head, "Doesn't matter. Me and Rubes will catch up with you during the orientation." Jaune than slipped his arm out from Yang's, earning a pout from her that Jaune didn't notice. With that, he gave her a small wave before he jogged off to find his younger sister. Yang watched him go in slight disappointment before she put on her usual smile and went off to catch up with her friends.

As he was jogging, Jaune was mumbling to himself, "Now where did you get to, Ruby?" That was when he heard a small explosion and saw a bit of smoke not too far away. He stopped in his tracks and just looked in the direction wide eyed. He lowered his head and sighed, "Please tell me that's not her." He then started to jog over to where he heard the explosion.

Once he got close enough, he saw that it was indeed Ruby. She was standing close to a girl not too much taller than her, which was sort of funny considering his sister should be younger than her. She was dusting off the soot from her entire body, revealing white clothing and hair, which may have been attractive to him if she was not berating his sister.

Jaune started to march over to give this pint sized brat a piece of his mind but stopped when he saw another woman dressed in black with the same colored bow in her just as dark hair. He stopped in curiously before he decided to listen into what they were saying as he leant against a tree and just out of view of them. He heard the girl in black speak, "It's Heiress, actually. Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, one of the largest producers of energy propellant in the world."

He then heard someone else speak, most likely this 'Weiss', "Finally! Some recognition!" she said smugly. Jaune rolled his eyes at that.

The girl in black continued, "The same company infamous for its controversial labor forces and questionable business partners."

Jaune smirked at that as he heard his sister chuckle. He then heard Weiss start to fume, "How dare-the nerve of-ugh!" There was a brief silence before he heard the sound of heels receding. He looked around to see that Weiss was storming away in a huff.

Ruby then started to shout at her, "I promise I'll make it up to you!" That made him smile, Ruby was definitely his ray of sunshine growing up. She turned to talk to the other girl but by the time Ruby did, she saw that she was already walking away. The young reaper looked down before she collapsed to the ground on her back.

That was when he knew he should make his presence known. He came around the tree and by the girl walking by him, who looked at him in confusion. He gave her a smile, "Thanks for that." Was all he said as he started to jog over to his downed sister. She watched him go before she turned around and kept walking away.

Jaune stopped at the edge of the crater and looked down at his sister. He held out his hand as he spoke, "Really, Rubes? Gone for five minutes and you already blow up the school?"

Her eyes snapped open instantly and just stared up in shock. She then pouted as she took his hand and let him help her up. When she was back on her feet, she let her brother know just how she felt, "You jerk, you ditched me!"

Jaune just gave her a slightly apologetic smile, "Technically, I was abducted by our sister. I really didn't have a choice."

Ruby then crossed her arms over her chest before looking down to grumble. He didn't catch much besides, 'Stupid Yang.' He sighed and wrapped his arm around her shoulders as the two started to walk around Beacon grounds, they still had some time before orientation started. "Ruby, you know that Yang was just looking out for you."

She looked up at him, still looking upset, "By abandoning me?"

Jaune winced slightly, "Not abandon. She just knows that you'll cling to us like security blankets if you had the choice."

"But you're my siblings." She added.

He nodded his head to her, "I know. But she has a point. All three of us may end up on different teams and we'll have to work with people we don't know. Yang and I can do that but if you stay closed off, it'll be that much harder on you. Plus, we won't be able to be with you when your team goes on missions." Ruby just stared up at him before she nodded in reluctant acceptance. He gently squeezed her shoulder, "Just take it slow, okay? Baby steps and your awesome siblings will be here to help when you need it." He said with a smirk.

She chuckled a bit before she leant over and wrapped her arm around his lower back to give him a side hug, "Thanks, Jaune. I needed that."

He leant down and kissed the top of her head, "That's why I'm here, Sis."

The two then spent their time just exploring the ground as they chattered about random things. Both still giving the other the same side hug. It had been some time since the two could hang out like this, just the two of them and both were happy. Ruby maybe a bit more but who knew? So much so that they didn't notice the looks they were getting from their potential classmates.

It wasn't much longer until they had to meet up in the auditorium for their orientation. They were both shocked by just how packed it was. The two looked around for their sister and eventually saw her waving in the front, "Ruby, Jaune! I saved you spots!"

Ruby's eyes narrowed slightly before she broke away from Jaune's hug and took off towards her. Jaune sighed and rolled his eyes good naturedly. He smiled before he walked after her, missing the stare he got from a certain red haired girl.

He walked over just in time to hear their conversation, with Ruby saying, "You mean since you ditched me and I exploded?"

"Yikes, meltdown already?" she asked.

Jaune answered as he stepped in beside Ruby, "No, literal. I heard it and saw the smoke."

Yang just stared at Jaune in shock, "What?!" she yelled. She then turned to her sister, "How did that happen?"

"Well after _you_ ditched me." She reiterate with a slight glare. "I tripped over some crabby girl's luggage. Then she yelled at me and then I sneezed, and then I exploded. Then she yelled at me again and I felt really, really bad. And I just wanted her to stop yelling at me!"

"You!" shouted a voice from behind her and Jaune now saw it was the girl from before, Weiss.

Ruby at that time jumped into Yang's arms, "Oh, Oum, it's happening again!"

Weiss just growled, "You're lucky we weren't blown off the side of the cliff!"

Yang meanwhile was staring in shock and Jaune decided to add his two cents, "Excuse me but how did Ruby cause an explosion? The only Dust she every uses are Dust rounds and those are meant to not go off unless they are fired."

Weiss whirled around to look at Jaune, "She damaged the seal on one of my vials of Dust!"

Jaune gave a brief nod, "Okay. And exactly _how_ did she do that?"

"She knocked over my case of Dust!" Weiss answered annoyed.

Jaune just blinked at her, "That's it?" he asked seriously. "You had stored your Dust so that it simply being knocked over could damage the seal and release enough Dust to cause an explosion? How exactly is that her fault?"

Weiss seemed taken back by that. She really wasn't expecting him to jump in or point out just how much was _actually_ her fault. She shook herself of that and glared up at him, "This has nothing to do with you." She turned back to Ruby, who had climbed out of Yang's arms, with a pamphlet that read Dust for Dummies and started to ramble off policies to Ruby. While Jaune was contemplating freezing her right there with Stalwart maybe make her a legitimate Ice Queen.

When she was done, Ruby was just staring at her cluelessly. Weiss sighed, "You really want to make things up to me?"

"Absolutely?" Ruby answered immediately.

She handed the pamphlet over to Ruby, "Read this and don't ever talk to me again."

"Again, your fault for not storing your Dust safely." Jaune brought up again. "You should read that."

Weiss turned back to him with a cold glare but Jaune didn't even flinch, "Listen here you…"

"Listening." He said sarcastically. Jaune had already reached his limit with this chick and wasn't taking anymore of her crap. It was actually stunning to Ruby since Jaune was usually polite to everyone. And as shocking as that was, she was further floored when it was Yang who tried to play peacekeeper.

"Look it sounds like you and Ruby got off on the wrong foot before. Why don't you start over and try to be friends?" Yang offered.

Ruby quickly shook herself of her shock, "Great idea, sis." She cleared her voice and reached her hand out to Weiss, "Hello, Weiss, I'm Ruby! Wanna hang out? We can go shopping for school supplies!"

"Yeah! And we can paint our nails and try on clothes and talk about cute boys. Like tall, blonde and infuriating there." She said sarcastically as she pointed her thumb at Jaune. She was then confused by the reactions she received from the three.

Ruby's eyes widened and she looked to Jaune before she blushed hard and looked down. Yang just had her mouth open and her eyes were darting to Weiss, Ruby and Jaune on repeat with a fainter blush on her cheeks. Meanwhile Jaune looked to the ceiling and was scratching the back of his head, "Wow." He drawled uncertainly.

Weiss turned to him with a raised eyebrow, "What?"

"Oum this is awkward." He muttered. He sighed and then looked down at her, "Well, to start, they are my sisters." He motioned to Ruby and Yang which caused Weiss to look at them in shock, "And what you just said has the implication that Ruby… you know."

That caused Weiss' mouth to fall open and to gain a blush of her own. "Oh…well…" she cleared her throat, "I didn't mean to imply anything like that."

Jaune really wasn't paying any more attention to her. He placed a hand on Ruby's shoulder causing her to squeak slightly. Jaune then tried to lead her away from Weiss, "Come on, Ruby. Let's get away from the sexual deviant." He said simply, like it was a fact. Although Weiss didn't notice the smirk on Jaune's face. Vengeance would be his.

"I'm not a deviant!" Weiss screeched. She blushed more at his words and that blush deepened even further when a few students turned to her in confusion. That didn't last long before Professor Ozpin came out onto the stage to give his speech. Although it confused a few students who were expecting something different from him. That was when Goodwitch came on and told them that they would be staying in the ballroom tonight before dismissing them. At that moment, he decided to get Ruby away from Weiss and hopefully her face would return to its usual tone.

* * *

It had now turned evening and the students were all bedding down in the ballroom. Ruby was dressed in her pajamas and was writing. Yang in her own pajamas crashed down, right next to her with a smile, "It's like a big slumber party!"

Ruby didn't look as she answered, "I don't think Dad would approve of all the boys, though."

"I know I do." Yang said with her usual suggestive tone. Ruby ignored her and Yang just kept looking at the muscular and shirtless guys. Even though she said that, they really weren't too special. In her opinion, they were too muscular. Maybe it was because their dad was muscular but she had always found that guys that were heavily muscled were not as attractive to her. She prefer toned than anything.

As she said that, she saw Jaune walk out in his usual shorts and shirt. She couldn't help her eyes following him and also focused on just how toned her brother was. The bonus was that he wasn't showing everything off like the meatheads she was just looking at but she could still see them through his clothing. She looked up to his face and he gave her the usual smile which made her heart flutter just a bit. Her cheeks gained slight pink but she quickly shook her head, 'Stop it. Stop ogling Jaune.' she told herself.

She also noticed now that as he was walking towards them, Jaune was indeed catching the eyes of a few of the other women around them. Some were just whispering and giggling as they looked at him. While others were staring, unblinking, at him. That made her eyes narrow and her knuckles crack as she closed her fist. 'Just because I can't, doesn't mean I have to be okay with every other girl in this room doing it!' she screamed in her head.

By that point, Jaune was finally standing beside them, "Sorry it took me so long. Some idiots got into a wrestling match in the locker room and I had to maneuver around them." He explained as he set his sleeping bag by their own. He looked up and saw Ruby was writing something. "What you writing, Ruby?" he asked as he sat down on his bag.

She looked at him with a smile, "A letter to the gang back at Signal. I did promise to tell them all about Beacon and how things are going."

Yang smirked, "Aw, that's so cute!" she cooed. That earned her a pillow to the face.

"Shut up!" Ruby said defensively. "I didn't get to take my friends with me to school. It's weird not knowing anyone here."

Seeing how annoyed she was, Jaune reached his hand over and started to gently rub her back. Ruby tensed up until she relaxed at the action. She placed her head on her pillow and hummed. She closed her eyes as he started to speak, "Baby steps, baby steps." He told her calmly.

"Plus, it's only been one day. Maybe things didn't work out with Weiss but that really doesn't matter. Trust me on this. You've got friends all around you. You just haven't to meet them yet." Yang said as she entered her patented big sister mode.

Ruby just relaxed as Jaune kept rubbing her back and she thought about her sister's words. She eventually sighed and opened her eyes again, "I guess you're right. Thanks you two." The two blondes just smiled at her and Ruby notice that a candle was being lit not too far away. She looked to see that it was the girl with the bow from earlier. "That girl…"

Yang and Jaune looked over to her and the brawler asked, "Do you know her?"

Ruby shook her head, "Not really but…"

Jaune finished her thought for her, "She helped Ruby out before with Weiss. She left before Ruby could talk to her though."

Jaune saw the gleam enter Yang's eyes at that moment, "Well, now's your chance!" she said excitedly. She stood up and grabbed Ruby by the arm and started to drag her away.

"Wait! What are you doing?" she asked. She then turned to Jaune and held out her hand to him, "Jaune, help me!"

Jaune gave her an apologetic smile, although the apology part was quickly outweighed by the humor in it. "Sorry, Ruby, I was already abducted today. Your turn."

"Traitor!" Was what she shouted at him as Yang kept dragging her away. Jaune chuckled and laid down onto his sleeping bag, arms behind his head. He relaxed and decided to let Yang handle this situation. As he had his eyes closed, he could hear the women around him whispering more. He really didn't pay it much mind though. They were probably just wondering why he was sleeping on their side. It was either that or his sisters would've come onto the boy's side. This seemed like the wiser move in his mind.

He opened his eyes once he started to hear the sounds of what sounded like a fight. On a hunch, he looked over to where the girl was reading and was not shocked by seeing his sisters fighting each other. He gave a frustrated sigh before he pushed off the ground and onto his feet. He then started to march over to them.

As he was walking over he saw that the black haired woman was trying to persuade them to stop but to no avail. She looked up when he stopped beside them. He gave her an apologetic smile before he turned his eyes to the dust cloud that was his sisters and they narrowed. He raised his hands and wiggled his fingers slightly as he waited. And in the blink of an eye, his hands reached into the dust cloud before he forcefully separated them. He was now holding each of them by the back of their shirts, like one would do to a feral cat.

Jaune turned back to the girl with the apologetic smile, "Sorry if my sisters disturbed you. They can be a handful on occasions." He then gave each of them a look, "Now do you two have something to say?"

They both looked down like scolded children as they were still held off the ground, "Sorry." They said in sync.

The girl blinked before she answered, "It's alright. No harm was done."

Jaune smiled, "Then we'll leave you to your reading. Come on girls." He then turned around and carried his sisters back over to their sleeping bags. He dropped each of them onto their respective sleeping bags and they pouted. He then laid himself down to relax again and he could faintly hear Yang complain about him, 'Almost making her flash everyone by carrying her like that.'

Jaune chose to ignore that and soon like everyone else in the room, he started to drift off to sleep. To get the rest necessary for the initiation in the morning and their next step in Beacon Academy.


	6. Initiation Starts

A Flame in the Dark

Jaune slowly opened his eyes and came back to consciousness as his internal clock told him it was seven in the morning. His first sight was the ceiling of the ballroom he and the other initiates had stayed in the night before. He smiled to himself and was about to get up until he registered the two bodies on either side of him.

He looked down to see that it was indeed his sisters. Ruby was on his left; she had managed to slide herself between his arm and his chest to use the latter as her pillow as she pulled herself close to him. On reflex, he must've wrapped his left arm around her to keep her close during the night. Yang, on the other hand, had pinned his right arm between herself and him, keeping him close with her arms wrapped tightly around him in a hug. He sighed to himself, "First time I let them sleep in the same bed with me in years and they are already making a habit out of it." He couldn't help the small smile though, it reminded him of when they were kids. Now he had to go about waking them up.

His eyes landed on Ruby first. Out of the two, she was the easiest to wake up. Except for the fact that his sister just looked adorable the way she was cuddled up to him. So his eyes immediately panned over to the harder of the two to wake up. He then smirked as he got an idea on just how to get her up. He unwrapped Ruby with is left arm and she immediately shivered slightly and pulled herself closer to him. He then reached over himself and gently took a lock of Yang's hair between his fingers. That's when he started to tickle her nose with it. Her eyes and face scrunched up but he didn't stop which led her to shake her head slightly in her sleep. When he still persisted, she gave a mix between a groan and a whine as her eyes slowly opened.

Jaune stopped with what he was doing and Yang's eyes focused on the lock of her own hair being held by someone. Her eyes snapped completely open and her head instantly looked up to see who _dared_ to touch her hair. She was met with the smirking face of her brother, "Morning, Yang." He said innocently.

Her eyes narrowed before she sighed heavily, "You are so lucky I didn't punch first."

"Wow, that's a first." He said cheekily as he gently rubbed the lock of hair between his fingers.

"Jaune, it's early and I haven't had my coffee. Don't make me hurt you." Yang told him seriously. "Why'd you wake me up anyways?"

He shrugged, "Because my _darling_ sisters had me trapped and I couldn't get up otherwise."

With that, Yang finally realized that she was hugging Jaune very tightly and, if she wasn't mistaken, his arm was pushed between her assets because of it. She wasn't the faintest bit ashamed though, it wasn't like she hadn't done something like this before with him, sleeping or otherwise. She then turned down from his face to look across his chest and saw her little sister still asleep and holding him just as tightly. Yang smirked and rested her chin on his chest. "Still can't wake up our sleeping sister because she's too adorable. Come on, Jauney, it's been years now, you should've gotten over that." She teased him.

Jaune was unfazed, "That's why I woke you up. You can be the bad guy and wake her."

"You would make your sister into the villain? How cruel of you." She grinned at him while Jaune just looked at her with a look that just explained he wasn't amused. She rolled her eyes, "Fine, I'll do it, you big baby." She then let go of him with her right arm, her left was still under him at the moment, and started to shake her sister, "Come on, Rubes. Time to get up."

They both heard her groan slightly before trying to bury her face further into Jaune to stay asleep. But Yang wouldn't stop her shaking so Ruby reluctantly awoke. Her eyes blinked open and she slowly looked over to see her siblings. She yawned, which both found to be adorable before she started to speak, "Morning, Yang, Morning, Jaune."

"Morning, Sis." The two Xiao Longs said nearly in sync.

Ruby let go of her brother to sit up and stretch with another yawn. "So, why'd you wake me up so early?"

"We have to prepare for Initiation. The earlier, the better in my opinion. Plus, you two have a habit of sleeping in." He then gently poked Yang in the side, "Mind letting me go now? I'm not carrying you into the bathroom with me."

Yang gave a huff and let him go so both could sit up. She looked around the ballroom at everyone, "Looks like we're one of the first to get up."

"Good." Jaune said as he stood up and bent backwards slightly until he felt a satisfying pop in his spine. He sighed and righted himself, "We'll have first dibs on the bathrooms and breakfast. Plus some time to relax before Initiation." He offered each of his sisters a hand, "You two ready?" he asked rhetorically.

Each of them smiled up to him as they took his offered hands before he pulled them to his feet. After that, the three split up and went into their separate gender bathrooms. Jaune took a quick shower to help wake himself up completely before he quickly dried off and dressed in his normal clothes, minus his ammo belt and weapons since those were still in his locker. After that, he styled his hair into the usual semi-messy look before he started to brush his teeth.

By the time he was done with that, some more early risers started to filter into the bathroom but it was still pretty obvious that most of the other initiates were still fast asleep. He slipped out and was going to wait for his sisters but was stunned to see that Ruby was already fully dressed and awkwardly standing against the opposite wall, waiting for him. He smiled and walked up to her, she looked relieved as soon as she saw him and smiled, "So, where's Yang?" he asked.

Ruby sighed, "She was still drying her hair when I was done. She was still half-naked on top of that." She said in annoyance, "I got bored waiting and with more people showing up, I decided to meet up with you."

Jaune felt his eyes twitch. Yang taking her time in the bathroom was a nightmare in the Xiao Long/Rose household so he wasn't shocked in the slightest to hear that was what was keeping her. Hell, he still remembered the time a few years back, he walked in and she was standing in the middle of the bathroom in only a towel as she was drying her hair. The two froze for a few seconds before Yang blushed and she screamed. That was when she punched him in the jaw and across the hall into the wall, knocking him out cold. He made it a priority to _always_ knock on the door after she was out of the shower after that.

Jaune shook his head to come back to reality. "Well, let's go to the cafeteria to get some breakfast. She'll meet us there when she's done." Ruby quickly nodded and the two made their way to get something to eat. As they got nearer, the smell of fresh breakfast was wafting down the hallway and both felt their stomachs growl in preparation. They walked in and saw the amount of different and fresh food ready for them. They grabbed their trays and before she could get too far, Jaune had to say something, "Ruby, do not get cookies."

She looked up at him in horror, "Come on, Jaune! Please!"

He shook his head, "I know you love them but they are not for breakfast. And don't even try the puppy eyes." He added as he had his back to her to purposely not see them. He heard her huff behind him and just knew she was pouting now. He sighed but he did see something that she was going to love. He picked up a strawberry parfait and placed it on her tray. That made her stare wide eyed, "There. Will that make you feel better?"

She just smiled before she put down the tray and hugged him tightly, "I love you!" Jaune just smiled and gently started to rub the top of her head as she continued to hug him. She eventually let him go and they grabbed the rest of their breakfast. Jaune grabbed a plate of scrambled eggs, bacon and toast before grabbing a cup of coffee. Ruby grabbed something very similar, except she left the toast and got a hot cocoa.

The two grabbed a table and started to enjoy their respective breakfasts. Jaune was savoring his coffee while Ruby was nearly moaning as she dug into her parfait. The two had about ten minutes of peace until they saw the doors open and more of the early rising initiates walked in with Yang at the lead. She found them easily enough since they were the only ones sitting down. She gave them a quick wave before she went over to grab her breakfast.

When she was done, she came over and sat down on Jaune's right since Ruby was already on his left, "Thanks for waiting for me you two."

Ruby had just stuffed another spoonful into her mouth before he answered, "You take forever."

Jaune gently laid down his mug, "Rubes, you mouth is full." He then turned to Yang, "But I agree with her. You take forever in the bathroom. That is a major reason why I woke you up so early." He then took a bite from his toast, "Plus, hot breakfast is best."

Yang just shoved him lightly at that before she dug into her own breakfast. The three ate and just chatted with each other as more and more initiates started to filter in. No one really sat with them but to the table to their left, an orange haired girl talking a mile a minute was sitting with guy with long black hair who seemed to take it all in stride. He didn't focus on the pair too long because Yang was currently teasing their little sister about the yogurt all around her mouth. Before the younger girl had a chance to, Jaune picked up his own napkin and started to clean her face as he gently held her cheek. Much to Ruby's embarrassment and chagrin.

Eventually, the three siblings were done with their breakfast and they left the cafeteria to go retrieve their weapons, with a few more of their fellow initiatives doing just the same, including the pair from before. As Ruby and Yang were grabbing their weapons, he could hear her still chatting with her friend. "Does she even breathe?" he said out loud but not loud enough for her to hear. He didn't want to insult her on accident. Jaune's locker was farther away from theirs since the ones around were taken before they had gotten there so he was just standing by and joining in on the conversation when needed.

Ruby answered as she opened her locker, "No idea, she definitely seems worked up though."

Yang shrugged, "Who knows? Although, you seem chipper now, sis."

Ruby quickly gained a massive smile, "Yup! No more awkward small talk or 'getting to know you' stuff. Today, I get to let my sweetheart do the talking." She then pulled Crescent Rose from the locker and hugged it close.

Yang gained a deadpanned expression while Jaune just chuckled before he spoke up, "Don't get too crazy, Ruby. Remember, we are going to get partners and Dad didn't tell us just _how _they do it. They'll most likely be strangers to us."

The reaper looked down, disgruntled, and Yang nodded quickly, glad that Jaune was on her side for this. "Exactly! If you wanna grow up, you're gonna have to meet new people and learn to work together."

She sighed in frustration. "You sound like Dad!" she said before she kicked her locker shut. She turned back to them. "I don't need people to help me grow up! I drink milk!" she crossed her arms with that.

"Yes. That milk we totally help you kill a horde of Grimm when they come for you." Jaune said sarcastically as he rolled his eyes. "Ruby, look, I know you're not a people person, I get it. But no matter how skilled you are, you can't take on everything by yourself. That's the reason why the schools organize their students into teams."

Ruby looked down in a pout and Yang continued where he left off, "Yeah, those aren't optional. What was your master plan for dealing with that?"

Ruby's confidence from earlier started to dwindle and she looked more nervous, "Um, I don't know. I was still hoping to be on one of your teams."

Jaune watched Yang pull her hair over her shoulder and start playing with it, Ruby wasn't the only one nervous, "Maybe you should try being on someone else's team?"

Ruby gasped and pointed at her, "My dear sister Yang, are you implying that you do not wish to be on the same team as me?" she asked with a tone that sounded both annoyed and hurt.

Jaune could see where this was going from a mile away. And he learned a long time ago to not get in the middle of his sisters when they get into an argument. So with that, he slowly started to step away and neither of them saw him, luckily. With that, he turned around and started to walk to where his locker was to retrieve Glacies Tempest and Stalwart. Hopefully by then, those two would calm down. Although, it appeared his luck had run out since he now saw that Weiss was standing in front of his locker and talking to another woman with long, red hair. He sighed, "Perfect."

As he got closer, he could hear what Weiss was saying, "I'm sure everyone must be eager to unite with such a strong, well-known individual such as yourself." Jaune couldn't help but roll his eyes at how thick she was laying it on.

He then heard the redhead hum before speaking up, "I'm not quite sure. I was planning on letting the chips fall where they may."

"Well, I was thinking maybe we could be on the same team together." Weiss offered.

Jaune decided to make himself known to them, "That will be a lot harder than you think." Both turned to him in shock, Weiss more so out of the two, "You don't really get to choose whoever you want to be your partner or teammates. If you pass Initiation, how you perform in it decides on who you will have as teammates."

"How would you know that?" Weiss asked having recovered slightly.

He shrugged, "My dad graduated from Beacon. He couldn't tell me how partners and teammates were formed but told me enough. Now, not to be rude, but I need to get my weapons." He then pointed past them to the locker. Weiss quickly stepped to stand next to the other girl so Jaune gave her a small smile, "Thank you."

He opened his locker and quickly but on his ammo belt, making sure he had the usual number of Dust clips for both his weapons. Once he did that, he grabbed his trusted sword. He quickly checked to see what the Dust level was at and was content to see that it was still full. He grinned before he attached it to the left side of his belt. He then grabbed his left gauntlet and slid it on before he deployed it. He loaded in a fresh clip of ammo from his locker before he reverted it back into its compact form. He did the exact same thing with is right gauntlet.

He closed his locker and turned back around to see that Weiss was still looking at him weirdly and the other girl was looking between them in confusion. "What?"

Weiss just looked away, "Nothing."

The redhead cleared her throat and Jaune turned his attention back to her, "Sorry for the inconvenience."

Jaune just shook his head, "No big deal. Wasn't like you knew that was someone's locker." He then had a small smile before he held out his hand to her, "I'm Jaune, by the way. Jaune Xiao Long."

She reached her hand out and took his, "Nice to meet you. I'm Pyrrha Nikos."

He nodded as he took his hand back, "Same to you. Don't take this the wrong way but considering how… enthusiastic Weiss was to have you on her team, you must be pretty skilled."

That seemed to shock her and Weiss turned back to him with a raised eyebrow, "You've seriously never heard of her? She graduated top of her class at Sanctum Academy in Argus and won the Mistral Regional Tournament four years in a row."

Jaune just shrugged, "Sorry but no. I grew up on Patch, nice secluded little island not far from Vale. Unless you were looking for certain news, you really didn't get it. Plus, I really didn't look into other schools since my dad worked at Signal and I always intended on coming to Beacon."

"Oh, that's fine." Pyrrha said happily. "I can't expect _everyone_ to know me."

The way she said that confused him a bit. And going off of Weiss' expression, she was just as confused as he was. "Right?" he said uncertainly. "Well, it was nice to meet you and I wish you luck. But, I should probably go find my-"

"Jaune!" he heard Ruby shout before she collided into him with her Semblance. He looked down at her with a raised eyebrow and she just looked up at him in a pout, "Stop ditching me!"

"I didn't ditch you. I needed my weapons and you and Yang were getting into an argument that I was not getting involved with. So, I effectively killed two Nevermore with one stone." He explained to her. Although, that didn't stop glaring up at him.

"Ruby has a point." Yang said as she walked over with her hands behind her head and a teasing smile on her lips.

Jaune just groaned as he fell into step beside Yang as their younger sister still clung onto him as he walked, "Don't you start too, Yang." The three siblings just traded banter as Weiss and Pyrrha watched them go.

The champion then looked towards Weiss, "Who were they?"

Weiss sighed, "His sisters."

* * *

The three Xiao Long/Rose siblings were now standing on a cliff edge and standing on metal plates. In front of them were Professors Ozpin and Goodwitch, who were explaining what their initiation would be. 'We're seriously being partnered up by just making eye contact with someone. No wonder why dad didn't tell us, we wouldn't have believed him. After that, go north to this temple, collect an artifact and make it back up here while killing any Grimm in our way. Pretty straight forward.' His eyes panned over to his right to see Ruby, standing on the very last plate, and she was not looking very happy.

He reached over and gently gripped her shoulder, making her turn to him. He gave her a reassuring smile, "You got this, Ruby." After a few seconds, she smiled back at him with a nod. With that he took his hand away and was getting ready to go as the other end of the metal plates started to launch the other initiates into the Emerald Forest.

As Glacies Tempest started to fully deploy, he felt a love tap on his left shoulder and looked to see Yang giving him a look, "Wanna have a bet?"

Jaune raised an eyebrow with a smirk, "What do you have in mind?"

She pointed northward, "The one to go the farthest before touching the ground wins."

Jaune thought for a second before he nodded, "That sounds fair. What about the stakes?"

"How about the usual?" Yang asked.

"Really? That's what you want?" he asked her and she just nodded. He shrugged with a playful grin, "Sure. Why not?" She then gave him a big grin before she winked and was launched into the forest. Jaune had a few seconds before he soon followed after her. He felt the metal pad below him getting ready to activate so he turned to Ruby and gave her one last reassuring smile before he was launched into the air.

Jaune allowed himself to be thrown as far as he could from the initial launch. As he was starting to near the treetop, he threw his right fist forward and released a barrage of ice bullets. They did what was intended and created an ice path on top of the trees. He landed on it and used his momentum to slide across it. At the end, he jumped forward as far as he could before he redid the process.

He looked forward and saw that Yang was using her gauntlets to launch herself further and further north but was quickly approaching the treetops . He smirked as he realized that if he kept this up, he'd win this bet of theirs. He reached the end of his latest ice slide and jumped forward again. He was starting to bring his arm forward to fire but was shocked to see what was in front of him. Or more accurately, who.

Pyrrha Nikos was crouched in the treetop with her weapon, a rifle of the looks, and was looking at the initiates that were still in the air. She was right where he needed to fire and he was so distracted by Yang, that he was too close to adjust his trajectory properly now. "Pyrrha, watch out!" She turned around just in time to see Jaune spin himself enough to just miss her before he vanished beneath the canopy of leaves.

He kept his arms crossed in front of his face to protect his faces from the branches he was snapping through. But because of that, he didn't see the much thicker one in front of him until he slammed into it stomach first. He bounced off it with a shocked gasp of pain before he fell backwards and out of the tree branches. And into the ground with a meaty slap.

Jaune just laid their as he let out a groan of pain. Luckily enough, he had his aura active when he was launched so he wasn't in too bad shape. But because he didn't focus his aura more on his stomach and back when he hit the branch and ground respectively, he felt more of the pain. But now his aura was taking the edge off. "I'm so glad Yang didn't see that. She'd never let me hear the end of it."

"Jaune!" he heard a familiar voice shout from above. He looked up to see Pyrrha drop down from the branches above and land beside him in a couch. She had a worried look on her face as she held her hands out, like she wanted to help him but didn't know what to do. "Are you okay?" she asked in concern.

"A bit sore but I should be fine." He sat up with another, all be it quieter, groan as Pyrrha hovered next to him. "I'm just glad I noticed you. Otherwise you would've been a frozen champion. What were you even doing up there anyway?" he asked in curiosity.

Her eyes widened slightly before she turned her head a bit to the side and muttered something. "I'm sorry. I didn't hear you." Jaune told her.

"I was… looking for you, actually." She said just a bit louder.

Jaune raised an eyebrow, "Me? Why?"

He noticed that her hands were now in her lap and were fiddling with each other. Her nerves also started to make her stutter slightly, "I-I was hoping… t-that you wouldn't mind being my p-partner?"

"Really?" he asked. Her answer was to look down at her hands and nod. Jaune sighed, "There may've been easier ways to go about that. But it looks like you got your wish."

She looked up at him and he just smiled at her, "We've already made eye contact, so it looks like we're stuck with each other for the next four years. Hope you don't regret this, partner." He said with a cheekier smile as he held his hand out to her.

She just stared at him for a bit before a stunning smile made itself onto her lips. She then took his hand again and squeezed slightly, "I doubt I will, Jaune." With that she pulled him back to his feet.

He let go of her hand and slowly stretched his back to make sure everything was in order. Once he was sure he was fine, he looked back to Pyrrha, "Well, let's start heading north." Pyrrha nodded happily and the two were about to move before they heard rustling in the bushes. Both turned on a dime, Jaune falling into his boxing stance and ready to unleash a hail of bullets, while Pyrrha pulled out her rifle and had it aimed forward and ready to fire.

That was until they both her a dainty 'ow' and saw Weiss trying to pull her dress free from the very same bushes. Once she was free, she walked forward and moved some low hanging leaves to step into the clearing. Her eye winded in shock as she saw Pyrrha and Jaune standing there with weapons ready. But seeing who it was, both of them lowered their weapons. Weiss then gave Pyrrha a smile, "Pyrrha, so good to see you. It looks like we are partners."

As she was walking forward, Jaune noticed that Pyrrha stiffened up a bit. A polite smile made it onto her lips, "I'm sorry, Weiss, but I've already partnered up with Jaune." she motioned to him on her right and Jaune just nodded in return.

Jaune noticed her smile become slightly tighter and her eyes landed on Jaune in a restrained glare. She still managed to keep her cheery mask on, "Well, if that's the case, would you mind if I join you until I find my own partner?"

Before they could give her an answer, all three heard something else moving through the bushes but the voice that followed stopped any of them from raising their weapons, "Weiss, wait! We're supposed to be teammates!" Ruby then walked into the clearing behind Weiss. That caused Weiss to freeze and Jaune to give her a glare.

Ruby looked past Weiss to her brother, her downtrodden expression quickly lit up, "Jaune!" she said happily and ran past Weiss to him.

Jaune looked down at his sister with a happy smile. Before she could run into him, he gently started to rub her head, "Ruby, it hasn't been that long. How are you _that_ excited to see me?" He said jokingly. "But, what was that about Weiss being your teammate?" He asked as his eyes went back to Weiss in a glare of cold fury. That had Weiss freeze further.

Ruby just looked up at him, "I was looking for you or Yang as soon as I landed. But I nearly ran into Weiss, we made eye contact but she just turned around and walked away."

"Is that right?" he said out loud as his glare seemed to intensify. "So, you not only disobeyed the Professor's rules but also tried to take Pyrrha as your partner. Which means, you abandoned my sister out of your own self-interest, huh?"

Weiss couldn't find the words to speak and her eyes looked over to Pyrrha for some form of help but the champion just looked at her in disappointment. She looked back to the clearly infuriated Jaune, "I…"

Jaune released an angry huff, "Fine then." He looked down to Ruby and his glare shifted back to a look of caring, "You can tag along with Pyrrha and me, Rubes. Hopefully we can find you a _better_ partner." Without waiting to get a response, Jaune put his arm around her shoulders and started to lead her northward. Pyrrha fell in behind him after a second or two.

Weiss stood there for a few seconds before she tried to follow after them. She went one step before the cocking of a gun stopped her. She saw Jaune look over his shoulder, "You aren't coming with us."

"What?" Weiss asked.

"Let me make this clear to you." Jaune turned to face her with a steely edge to his voice. That but the three on edge, especially Weiss. Ruby looked uncomfortable because it had been a long time since she had seen Jaune this angry. "I care about my sisters more than anything. You were willing to abandon my sister for your own selfishness. So, I will _not _trust you to watch my sister or my back because you may just stab us in the back for your own gain. If you don't like that…" his other gauntlet cocked, "You can prove me wrong."


	7. Initiation Heats Up

A Flame in the Dark

Jaune just kept glaring at Weiss, who still didn't know what to do or how to handle this situation. Her eyes slowly lowered to his cocked gauntlets and she could see that his body was tense, ready to fight. She cleared her throat, "We have no time for this. We have to get our relics before it's too late." She tried to say professionally.

"By all means, don't let us hold you up." Jaune said with that edge to his voice. "Go on ahead. We'll follow after. Once I'm sure you won't be a danger to our safety that is."

"This is insane. You're letting your personal feelings interfere with your mission and duty as a Huntsman!" Weiss tried to pressure him with the moral high ground.

Jaune just shrugged, "Rather be a subpar Huntsman than a shoddy brother or partner. Or person for that matter." His eyes moved from her's to look past her, "Then again, most people from Atlas are said to be ice cold and detached from common folk. Shouldn't be that surprising, Miss Heiress."

Weiss was just staring at him again, totally out of her depth. Pyrrha took a step closer to her partner, "Jaune, I understand your anger but the Professors may be watching. This could affect your test in particular. Don't let her ruin that." Weiss flinched at the Champion's words, the person she was hoping to partner up with most saying that hurt more than she would've liked.

Before any of them could react, Jaune twisted his body to the right. Sliding his right foot backwards and pulling the same fist back at the same time. All of them knew he was readying an attack. Weiss reflexively reached for her weapon as Pyrrha started to reach for her partner. They were both too slow,; Jaune's fist came forward and a volley of ice Dust bullets went flying towards his target.

Which was to the left of Weiss. The three women turned to the direction and saw his bullets impacting three different Beowolves. The bullets impacted them enough to freeze portions of their bodies and impede their movements. Along with stopping them from pouncing on the distracted Heiress. He pulled his arm back before turning more to the right and firing off with his left gauntlet at another four Beowolves that were at his two o'clock. "Rubes!" he shouted as he didn't stop assaulting the Grimm.

That was all she needed to hear. She unfurled Crescent Rose before using her Petal Burst to fly over her brother's bullets and clear the distance across the clearing. She re-materialized right in front of the first partially frozen Grimm and brought her trusted scythe down to remove its head. Before it could fade to ash, she had already moved onto the other two and dispatched them just as quickly. She spun and planted her scythe blade into the ground before firing four sniper rounds as quickly as she could. Each one hit their mark on the Beowolves' heads and all four of the freshly frozen Grimm were done for.

Weiss and Pyrrha just stared at how quickly those two had killed the Grimm nearly effortlessly. They both snapped back to reality when on the opposite side of the clearing a much bigger Beowolf, borderline Alpha, emerged and charged at the human that had its back to it, Jaune. Both shouted to him before it was too late.

Hearing them and the snarl, Jaune's right hand grabbed Stalwart and he pulled the blade free as he spun clockwise to face it. His blade met the teeth of the beast but the force behind the Grimm's jump did push them back a few feet. The Creature of Darkness clamped its jaws down on the blade, making sure Jaune couldn't escape unless he relinquished it. Seeing that, Jaune pulled the trigger on his sword to fire off the Dust from the vents, freezing the Beowolves jaws around the blade and flipping the trap on it.

The minute the shock overtook the Grimm, Jaune let go of his sword and stepped into the larger Grimm's guard and slammed both his fists into its chest, releasing the remaining Dust in them for a flash freeze explosion. The force from the attack caused it to rear up, showing off the entirety of its frozen chest and exposing its throat. That signaled another sniper round to be fired but instead of the bullet hitting the beast, it was Ruby herself. Her scythe bit two-thirds of the way through its neck but she rectified that when she planted both her feet into its back to pull it through the completely.

The head and sword flying into the air as the body started to disappear. Ruby jumped off it and landed on her feet easily before resting her scythe against her back, blade nearly touching the ground. She smiled at her brother, "See? This is why I wanted either you or Yang as my partner."

Jaune just chuckled as he ejected the spent clips from Glacies Tempest and brought them to his belt, loading in new ones. "We are only this in sync because we've lived with each other for so long. Just wait and with enough time, you'll be just as good with your own partner."

That's when the Grimm's jaws landed on the ground next to him. His blade still caught in it since the Grimm flesh was frozen to it. He picked it up and quickly converted it into its standby mode. The blade retracting into itself was more than enough to shatter the ice. He was about to attach it to his belt when he heard something behind him. He quickly turned to see two more Beowolves entering the clearing. The siblings didn't have to worry because they were both dealt with quickly: one with a spear through its head and the other with a rapier through its chest after the owner surged across the clearing.

Jaune just grinned as Pyrrha pulled her weapon free from the now dead Grimm. He and Ruby started to walk over to the pair after they had their weapons put away. "Nicely done, Pyrrha." He said with a smile.

She turned back to him with her own, "I barely did anything. You and Ruby took out most of the pack masterfully."

Ruby looked to the side, slightly embarrassed by the praise. He just grinned slightly. "Well, we were both trained by our uncle. Well, she was taught how to use a scythe and I was shown how to swing a sword. But because of that and growing up together, we have good synergy."

Ruby nodded, "Yeah! You should've seen us before Uncle Qrow started teaching us. We were complete garbage before."

"You more you than me, Rubes. I learned a good amount of hand-to-hand from Dad." He smirked at her.

She glared up at him, "I'm not built for the same kind of fighting as you three. I'm more speed than power."

He just gave her a deadpanned expression, "You use a massive scythe and I've seen you cut through trees without the sniper recoil." That just earned him a harder glare from his younger sister but it had little effect on him. Yang's were more intimidating and he gained immunity to those _long_ ago. Pyrrha looked at the two and couldn't help giggling at the siblings antics.

"We should really get moving." Weiss said out loud and grabbing their attention. "The commotion from your weapons could draw more Grimm here and we need to move on regardless."

He just held her gaze for a while before he sighed, "You're right." He turned towards the direction he saw the ruins in when he was above the tree cover. "It's this way and is a good distance away." He started to walk and when he was even with Weiss, he looked her in the eyes, "Prove me wrong." That was all he said to her before walking out of the clearing. Pyrrha and Ruby followed quickly after him, leaving Weiss alone for a few seconds before following after them.

* * *

The four traveled for ten minutes or so in silence. Jaune and Pyrrha were in the front keeping their eyes open and ready. Pyrrha had both Akouo and Milo out and ready while Jaune had Glacies Tempest locked and loaded. Ruby and Weiss were directly behind them, keeping an eye out behind them. The silence was tense but considering the argument they had gotten into just before the pack of Beowolves showing up, that was understandable.

Jaune eventually sighed before breaking the silence, "Since we are going to be working closely until the end of Initiation, we should probably go over our weapons and Semblances. That way we won't be caught off guard by anything if we get into another fight."

The others nodded and Ruby was the first to speak up, "Crescent Rose is my scythe and is a high impact sniper rifle. My Semblance is Petal Burst, I can turn into a cloud of rose petals and move extremely fast."

Pyrrha was next, "My weapons are my shield Akouo and my spear Milo. It can also transform into a xiphos and rifle when it's necessary. My Semblance is Polarity and let's me to control metal relatively easily. Although, I would like it for us to keep it quiet. I don't like broadcasting it."

Weiss sighed before she spoke up, "My weapon is Myrtenaster. It's a rapier with a rotating Dust chamber. I use the Dust to help with my attacks or mixing them with my Glyphs, my Semblance, for a variety of effects. Honestly, there are too many varieties and effects to discuss right now."

Jaune nodded but kept looking forward, "My weapons are my bracers, Glacies Tempest. They have submachine guns in them that allow me to fire ice Dust rounds or I can convert the Dust into a flash freezing explosion when I punch. The sword on my hip is Stalwart. It's a simple longsword but the vents on either side of the blade allow me to release ice Dust for a variety of attacks when I stab or swing."

Pyrrha waited for a bit but he didn't continue. So she asked the follow up question. "What about your Semblance, Jaune?"

Ruby went tense and her eyes widened when she heard that. Jaune however, just took it in stride. "You don't have to worry about that. I don't use it if I can help it." She would've asked what he meant by that but the tone of his voice said he wouldn't elaborate even if she did. Sensing it was a sensitive topic for him, she left it alone.

They all kept up their trek for several more minutes until they came across a cave entrance. They all stopped and looked it over. Jaune, Pyrrha and Ruby seemed more interested in it than the Heiress, who just stood off to the side with her arms crossed. "This aren't the ruins, right?" Ruby asked.

"No." Jaune answered her as he started to look over the drawings around the edge of it. "The ruins look like a temple of some sort and they are still quite a ways northward. Huh, these drawings are old and they aren't exactly filling me with hope."

"What do you mean?" Pyrrha asked as she stepped up beside him to get a closer look.

"It looks like people running from a giant scorpion. Probably a Deathstalker." He then turned from them and looked into the darkness of the cave. "A warning?"

Weiss' curiosity finally got the better of her and she was now looking the same drawings over with Pyrrha. "Do you think it is in there still?"

Jaune shrugged, "I don't know." He then turned back to the other two as Ruby started to look in now. "But I don't wanna find out. Let's just keep moving on. We can tell the Professors when we are done and they can do what they feel is necessary from there if the Grimm is in there."

"I agree." Weiss turned to him, shocking the redheads. "We need to retrieve the relics; not fight Grimm we don't have to. We'd just be wasting our time, especially if it is empty."

They all agreed and were about to keep moving forward. Until they heard something coming from the way they had just come from. It sounded like something was crashing through the forest. As the sounds got louder, they could also hear roaring and what seemed to be explosions. And laughter? Before any of them could even voice their confusion, an Ursa burst from the brush at full speed, roaring. As they all got ready to fight it, it just ran completely past them.

That's when they saw the orange haired girl from earlier _riding_ it. She had her weapon out, which turned out to be a massive hammer, and was slamming it into its rear, forcing it to keep running at its top speed. Which now revealed that its roars were from pain more than anything else. She released an explosion as they were just about out of sight, making it move even faster for a brief period. Before they could say anything, the black haired guy that was with her earlier quickly ran after her shouting, "Nora!"

When the two were gone, the four slowly turned to each other. "What was that?" Pyrrha asked.

That was when they heard it. The sound of something large and heavy shifting. It was echoing ominously from the cave directly behind them. They all slowly turned to it as the sound was steadily growing louder and louder. That's when they saw something glowing in the dark, swaying side to side like a pendulum. Then several eyes glowing the dark.

"Run!" Jaune shouted as he grabbed the arms of Ruby and Pyrrha, since they were the ones next to him, trying to pull them along. They all snapped out of it and started to run with him. When all four were twenty feet or so away from the cave entrance, it exploded open and rocks went flying. Jaune looked over his shoulder to see a massive Deathstalker revealing itself as it started to screech into the air.

That just made the four of them double their efforts to get away. As they were weaving through the trees and tearing their way through the underbrush, they could feel the tremors every time it's legs slammed into the ground. And they could tell it was starting to close the gap between them. During their sprint, Jaune could feel the familiar but unsettling heat slowly travel down his arms. He clenched his hands into tight fists and clenched his teeth as he tried to force the heat back where it came from while trying to not slow down at all. Letting the Flames out could cause the forest to catch fire and that could endanger all the initiates. He couldn't let that happen.

The four somehow managed to keep the distance between themselves and the Deathstalker. They also managed to catch up to the guy in green. He turned around in shock before gaining a second wind to keep even with the group. He turned back around to face his partner before he shouted, "Nora!" As a warning to her.

The girl in question turned around while still riding on her unwilling steed. She looked at the group of five in confusion before her eyes landed on the Deathstalker chasing them. They went wide before she gained a near manic smile on her face. She stood up on the stampeding Ursa and turned to face them in an impressive feat of balance as she was spinning her massive hammer over her head. She brought it back down onto the rear of the beast while firing off an explosion.

The Grimm reared up and combined with the force of the explosion, launched her towards the Deathstalker. The attack also had the bonus of putting the beast out of its misery. She flew over her fellow initiates and started to flip over and over to gain more momentum before slamming her hammer onto the beast's head. The sudden impact slammed its head into the ground and the rest following shortly after, tearing up the ground and uprooting several trees in its path. Nora then jumped off the Deathstalker to join the group and kept pace with the same mindset someone would have with a morning jog.

Seeing that, Jaune took the opportunity to stop and spin back around to face it. He heard Ruby and Pyrrha shout his name but he ignored it as he pulled his fists up. He started to fire as much of his Dust as he could to try to freeze the legs and sides of the dazed Deathstalker, hoping to buy them even a few seconds of time when it regained its senses. He probably unloaded about half of each of his clips in doing so before he turned back around to catch up to the group.

The group of now six soon reached the end of the forest and came into a large clearing with the ruins located there. "There's the ruins!" Jaune shouted, "Grab a relic and let's get out of here!"

As they neared it, Jaune saw Yang and the girl with the bow from the day before. Yang smirked at him while tossing her relic into the air. "Look who finally showed up. Took you guys long enough."

"Yang, not now!" Jaune shouted as he came to a stop beside her. Ruby stopped beside her siblings as Pyrrha, Weiss and Nora ran in to grab a relic. The blacked haired girl just watched with a raised eyebrow as the three ran in to grab relics and Nora shouting about being 'Queen of the Castle'. The only other male in the group stopped outside as well but he was doubled over and trying to regain his breath. "We have a massive Deathstalker following us. We need to get out of here, now."

Yang raised an eyebrow, "How big is massive?" she asked.

As she said that, they heard a loud screeching but not the same one they had heard from the Deathstalker. The five not in the ruins looked up and saw a massive Nevermore flying over them before turning back around. Jaune threw his arms up into the air, "And now we have that to deal with too! Sure, why not?!" he shouted in annoyance.

That is when the other three came out of the temple and they saw the trees at the edge of the clearing they came from break apart into timbers. That revealed the Deathstalker, free and more furious than before. "Oh, massive is _that_ big." Yang said right beside Jaune. He saw her now staring at the Grimm with wide eyes. "Well, at least we can all die together." She said jokingly to try to lighten up the mood.

"Not if I can help it!" Ruby shouted and started to sprint towards the Deathstalker.

Jaune reached out and tried to grab her hood to stop her but his fingertips just missed her. Yang shouted, "Ruby, wait!" But both siblings were ignored by their younger sister. Ruby unfurled Crescent Rose and fired behind her in record time and she was sent catapulting towards the Deathstalker. It just battled her away with one of it's pincers, sending her falling to the ground. She quickly pulled herself to her feet and fired twice into the Deathstalker's face, doing nothing to the massive Grimm. Seeing that, she quickly turned and tried to get away from it as it chased after her.

By that point, both Xiao Longs were in a full sprint towards her, "Ruby!" both shouted in panic and Jaune could feel the heat traveling down his arms. He was still debating on using them to get to his sister but the screech of the Nevermore had him looking up at it. That's when he saw it pull up and flap its giant wings towards them. Jaune quickly wrapped his arms around Yang's stomach before sending aura into his legs and jumping back with her, preventing either of them from being impaled by the feathers it had fired at them. "Ruby, get out of there!" Yang shouted as she reached out to her.

"I'm trying!" she shouted in desperation. Her cloak was pinned to the ground by one of the feather as the Deathstalker raised its stinger. The panic and desperation was the tipping point for Jaune. He let go of Yang and charged forward. He was already bringing his arm backwards; his intent was to release the Flames to rocket towards her. But as he was about to do so, a white blur raced past him and a wall of ice erupted from the ground. Freezing the Grimm's stinger and saving Ruby. And standing there beside his sister was none other than Weiss.

That had him come to a full stop in shock but he quickly saw the Nevermore pull up and fly further up into the air. It spun back around and was bringing its wings forward for another volley. Seeing no other choice, Jaune jumped onto one of the feathers impaled into the ground. It bent backwards until the tension was too much and it snapped back, flinging him into the air. As he was flying towards the Nevermore, he let the heat travel down to his hands unrestricted since he had nothing to burn besides his targets in the air.

As the feathers came towards him, he swiped his hands from either side of himself which were now engulfed in the silver fires. The fires were released as he was doing so, creating a curved wave of silver fire towards the feathers. The fires engulfed the feathers with little issue and they slowly turned to ash as they fell out of their path and fell through the air. The sudden release of the aura-flames sent him rocketing backwards since he had nothing to slow himself down in the air.

As he was being rocketed back, he managed to flip himself over and saw he was heading towards the Deathstalker. He also noticed that Ruby and Weiss were staring up at him in shock but that was enough of a distraction for the Grimm to free its stinger. Seeing this, he pulled his hands above his head and the silver fire manifested in them once again. 'Stay in control. Stay in control!' he thought to himself. With those thoughts in mind, he created a fireball the size of a beachball between his hands before throwing his arms down and letting it fly.

The fireball flew like a silver comet down towards the Deathstalker, slamming into the middle of its back. The fire exploded outward enough to cover most of its back and the beast screeched in pain. It quickly started to back up in an attempt to get away from the pain as it's tail was whipping around and pincers snapping in the air in a fervor.

Jaune landed onto the ground shortly after that, about ten feet or so from Ruby and Weiss. The ground cracked underneath him and his aura did diminish a bit but he didn't care at this point. He rushed over to his sister, the lingering flames on his hands extinguishing instantly. He pulled her into a hug, just to be sure she was safe, and turned to Weiss, "We need to get moving." He told her simply.

She quickly shook herself of the shock and nodded to him. She created a Glyph behind herself to increase her speed while Jaune sent some of his large aura to his leg, getting ready to leap the distance between them and Yang. The three of them quickly got away from the burning Deathstalker and back over to Yang. As soon as his feet touched the ground, Jaune let go of Ruby and Yang quickly pulled her into a tight hug. Ruby groaned from the strength behind the embrace but Yang didn't care, she just said loud enough for the two to hear, "I'm so glad that you are okay."

The others of their little group came running over as Yang was finally letting go of Ruby. Most were staring in awe at the Grimm in the distance burning in silver fire. Ruby turned to Jaune who was still just looking down at her with a neutral look on his face. "Jaune…" she started nervously, not exactly sure on what to say to her brother. She didn't get a chance to say anything else though. Mostly because his fist slammed onto the top of her head, luckily he had condensed that half of Glacies Tempest so it was just a normal punch.

Everyone was shocked by the sudden assault. No one more than Yang and Ruby since Jaune _never_ did anything like that outside of the occasional spar. Yang just stared wide eyed at the two while Ruby cupped the top of her head as she looked up at him, shock and slight bit of pain in her eyes.

Jaune on the other hand was now looking down at her with a very annoyed look in his eyes, "What the hell were you thinking?!" Ruby just looked up at him, not saying a word. She was starting to flashback to the times she got in trouble with her Dad, especially since Jaune did look like a younger version of him. "You _ever_ do something that dangerous again and I swear I'll ground you for a year!"

That made her jaw drop, "You can't do that!"

"I absolutely can. Dad told me to keep an eye on you and he would a hundred percent agree with my decision." She was just dumbfounded by that. Jaune then saw Yang smirking at the interaction and he turned to her as well. "That goes double for you, Yang."

She raised an eyebrow at him, "What have I done?" she asked.

He gave her a deadpanned expression, "Should I start with what Dad _knows_ you've done or about the dozen others he _doesn't_?" he asked rhetorically. That made her look to side and try to act innocent.

The other five members of the group just looked on in confusion, not exactly sure on what to do or say in this situation. Pyrrha eventually decided to try to get them back on track, "Um, Jaune?" she asked. He turned to her, much calmer than before. "I know this is important but we need to get going."

After a second, he shook his head to clear his thoughts, "Yeah, you're absolutely right." He looked back up to the Nevermore that was now trying to circle back. "The Nevermore will be back any time now."

"Can you do what you did to the Deathstalker to it!?" Nora asked as she invaded his personal space.

Jaune leant back enough so he could see her properly, "No, no I can't. It's too far away for me to hit it." He then looked over to see the Deathstalker still screeching, "And the Deathstalker's shell is apparently too thick for the Flames to deal with it on their own. We should get out of here before it's too late."

The rest agreed with him and were about to run. Jaune quickly put his hand on the back of Ruby's head and pulled her into his chest. She froze for a second before she felt him leave a kiss to the top of her head, right where he had hit her. He then rested his forehead on top of her head, "I'm sorry, Ruby. You scared me to death and I'm just so, so relieved you are okay. Once this is over, I'll endure any punishment you have in mind." He whispered to her, his voice shaking with his emotions.

Hearing this, she just wrapped him in a hug and gave him a brief squeeze before they pulled apart. With that, the eight of them started to run towards the cliffs to end their exam. The Deathstalker watched them retreat and the eyes seemed to glow with more fury from the pain they had subjected it to. It screeched before chasing after them but at a slower pace and flames still licking at it. The Nevermore finished circling and started to give chase as well. Their test was far from over.


	8. Initation Completed

A Flame in the Dark

The eight initiates were quickly running away from the ruins where the relics were, trying to get away from the pair of Grimm that were chasing them. They had lost sight of the burning Deathstalker but the Nevermore was flying above them the entire time. Never losing sight of them for a second.

The group had emerged from the forest into another set of ruins that extended towards and over a massive chasm. The group quickly broke away into two groups and ran to either side of the ruins to get some much needed cover. As they did that, the Nevermore flew over them before landing on much larger piece of rubble situated in the center of the chasm. From its perch, it spread its wings and gave a massive screech.

That was when the trees exploded into lumber as the burning Deathstalker tore through the forest. It's burning red eyes landed on Jaune before it charged towards him. Jaune narrowed his eyes before shouting, "We need to move!" But unlike the rest that ran away from the Grimm, he moved closer to it. He heard three voices shouting his name as he did but ignored his sisters and partner for the time being.

When he was close enough, he allowed the familiar heat to run down his arm and into his hand. Instead of coalescing the heat into the Flames, he threw his palm forward and sent out a heatwave. The heatwave distorted the air as it flew towards the Grimm. Once it made contact with the still burning silver fire, they erupted. Becoming larger and more intense as the Flames tried once again to burn through the Grimm's carapace. It screeched out in agony from the heat and slowed it's pace to almost a standstill. With that, Jaune turned back around and started to chase after the group he had sent onward.

As he was getting closer, he saw a salvo of feathers flying towards Nora as she was standing between the two rows of ruins. Through an obscene amount of luck, all the feathers missed her and she pulled out her weapon before firing at the flying Grimm with a salvo of grenades. Jaune was confused on why exactly they left behind pink smoke but he'd question that later.

He stopped besides the ginger and quickly cupped his hands together in front of his chest to create a silver fireball. When it was the appropriate size her threw it forward with both hands, aiming for the chest of the massive Grimm. It sadly missed when one of the grenades slammed into the beast's head and caused it to fly away. That just allowed the fireball to fall harmlessly into the chasm. "Damn. Missed." He said in annoyance.

"My bad." Nora said beside him. That is when he heard the screeching from behind him and saw the Deathstalker on a murderous tear towards him. Before it could reach himself or Nora, Ren and his sister's partner, Blake, jumped towards it and cut across its face with their bladed weapons. Using that brief second, Jaune drew Stalwart and preformed and upwards swing while releasing a wave of ice Dust from it. The Dust froze instantly across the Grimm's face and to the ground but it just reared up and shattered it like it was nothing.

That did give Weiss enough time to get to Nora and use a Glyph to get the two of them closer to the others. The three that had drawn their weapons against the Deathstalker were not far behind them, running with everything they had. Jaune noticed that Pyrrha had stopped on the bridge they were running on and was now crouched down and firing at the scorpion Grimm while her shield was in front of her.

Weiss and Nora ran past her as Ren threw himself onto the bridge, rolling until he was also crouched and started firing as well with his machine guns. When Jaune and Blake were on the bridge, the two stopped firing and joined them as the Deathstalker couldn't follow them onto the stone structure.

That was when the Nevermore flew in and destroyed a large portion of the bridge. The eight quickly jumped to the side that they could safely get to before it was too late but it separated them. Jaune, Ruby, Yang, Weiss and Nora managed to be on the portion towards the center of the chasm. But Pyrrha, Blake, and Ren were still stuck on the side with the Deathstalker.

Jaune saw that Ruby was already firing at the avian Grimm but his eyes settled onto the rest fighting the scorpion Grimm. They weren't doing well, since the beast was still covered in silver fire and they couldn't risk getting burned. That made his decision for him as he attached Stalwart back to his belt. He turned toward his sisters and ran towards them and when he was the proper distance away, he turned back and ran at full speed towards the chasm. He quickly pumped aura into his legs and leapt across the chasm and high into the air above them.

As he was flying through the air, he threw his hands towards the burning Grimm. He clenched his fingers like he was grabbing something and pulled his arms back. At that motion, the Flames were pulled from the Grimm in tendril directly towards his hands, shocking the three that were still fighting it. The silver fire was now completely coating his forearm and hands. He winced slightly from the intense heat before clapping his hands together hard to extinguish the flames instantly.

When he pulled his burned hands away, he quickly had Glacies Tempest fully deploy around them. He pulled his right hand back in a fist as he heard an explosion from behind him. He looked over his shoulder to see that Nora was following right behind him with her hammer in tow. Both seemed to have the same plan and with two shouts, both brought their weapons down on top of the Deathstalker's head with their accompanying explosions. Not only did they do damage but they helped throw the two back and away from the Grimm as it tried to impale them with its stinger.

Both slid to a stop but Nora had the unfortunate incident of knocking Blake off the bridge. Luckily, she used her weapon to get back onto the other side. They didn't have long to worry about that when the Grimm removed its stinger and the whole bridge started to give way. "Everyone, move!" he shouted and all four ran towards the Grimm.

As they got closer, the Grimm threw it's right pincer forward. Pyrrha was able to deflect it with her shield before delivering slashing it with her xiphos. It tried to retaliate with its other pincer but Jaune intercepted it with and ice Dust slash from his own sword, partially freezing it. As the partners dealt with the pincers, Ren ran forward while firing at it. The Grimm tried to impale it with its stinger but Ren just managed to grab onto it and fire at the point where the tail met the stinger.

Nora started to fire a few grenades at the beast, causing Jaune and Pyrrha to jump back from it. That did cause it to thrash its tail and send Ren flying into the ruins. Jaune launched himself forward again and threw his left fist into its face, releasing the remainder of his Dust to freeze the entirety of its head. That's when he saw that the stinger was barely holding on and he jumped backwards towards the two ladies. "Pyrrha, the stinger!"

"On it!" she answered immediately answered and threw her shield at it. The stinger was sliced off and stabbed deep into the frozen Grimm's head.

Jaune meanwhile crossed his arms over his head as he crouched down. "Nora, ready for some air?"

"You know it!" she shouted as she jumped onto his crossed arms. As he felt her weight, he channeled more aura into his legs before he shot up and off the ground, sending her further into the air. He watched her sail into the air before firing off an explosion and sending herself rocketing towards the Grimm. She spun her body and brought down the full force of her swing onto its own stinger. The stinger in question went right through the beast and the ice around the head was shattered instantly. The force also turned the bridge into an impromptu catapult and flung Jaune and Pyrrha over the Grimm and onto safer ground. The three landed on the ground as the bridge and dead Grimm slowly fell away into the chasm. Jaune and Pyrrha were in three point landings while Nora landed on her butt. A few second slater, Ren stumbled over and collapsed next to them.

Jaune just sighed in relief as he fell back onto his own rear to sit. He clenched both his fists and ejected the empty ammo clips from his gauntlets. He hissed slightly from the still fresh burns on his hands but just decided to deal with it for the time being. That's when he gently rested his arms on his knees. "Well… that's over." He said casually.

"Yeah!" Nora shouted as she threw her arms into the air. "We were amazing!" Ren just gave a tired groan from his spot on the ground.

Pyrrha quickly stood up before turning her gaze to Jaune, "Shouldn't we be trying to get across the chasm and helping out the others?" she asked.

Jaune just raised an eyebrow before looking over to his sisters and their partners. He then grinned, "No. it looks like they have it handled."

The other three turned to see Ruby being launched towards the Nevermore and hooking her scythe blade around its neck. She then started to run up the cliff face with the help of Weiss' Glyphs and firing shots from her weapon as she went. The entire way she was dragging the massive Grimm along with her. When she got to the top, she fired one last shot from her weapon and decapitated it, letting the body fall into the chasm.

The three other's standing with Jaune just looked on in shock and awe. That caused him to chuckled and smirk, "See? Told you." He just looked up at his little sister standing near the edge. With a sigh, forced himself back onto his feet. He gave her a large smile and a salute before turning to the others. "So… anyone has any ideas on how to cross this?"

* * *

It was later on in the day and the eight of them had successfully passed their initiation. They were also told that the two sets of partners that had the same chess pieces would be paired up to form the teams. That was also the first time that Jaune knew that the relics were chess pieces since Pyrrha was the one to grab theirs in the first place.

Pyrrha had grabbed the golden rook piece and by some sort of luck or coincidence, so did Ren and Nora. So the four of them would be a team. At the same time, Ruby and Yang had gotten the golden knight pieces so they and their partners would be on their own team. Jaune was somewhat sad that he wasn't on the same team but he was relieved that Ruby at least had Yang to help her if she needed it.

They were currently standing with their teams and waiting for their turn to be called up on stage so Professor Ozpin could give them their team name and elect their team leader. The newly christened Team CRDL had just left the stage so Jaune's team was the next to come on. "Jaune Xiao Long. Lie Ren. Pyrrha Nikos. Nora Valkyrie. The four of you retrieved the white rook pieces, from this day forward you will work together as Team JNPR. Lead by Jaune Xiao Long."

"Come again?" Jaune asked out loud. That's when he heard both his sisters cheering like crazy and Pyrrha gently punched him on the shoulder as a sign of congratulations. He just looked down and sighed, "Fine. Who am I to argue?" He said with a smile.

That made Ozpin grin back, "Congratulations, young man."

With that, his team left the stage as his sisters were coming on. "And finally, Blake Belladonna. Ruby Rose. Weiss Schnee. And Yang Xiao Long. The four of you retrieved the white knight pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team RWBY. Lead by Ruby Rose."

Ruby's face was the epitome of shock as Yang threw her arms around her in a hug. "I'm so proud of you!" she told her younger sister.

Jaune instantly brought his fingers to his lips for a piercing whistle. "Way to go, Ruby! That's my sister!" Pyrrha and Nora giggled at his enthusiasm while Ren just smiled. He just took it in stride. He wasn't ashamed by how much he loved his sisters.

As soon as the ceremony was done, all the students were escorted to the ballroom they stayed in the night before for a small party to welcome them. Jaune, with his team following close behind him, quickly found his sisters and wrapped his younger sister in a hug. "My baby sister is a team leader. I'm so proud!"

He felt her thrash a bit in his arms, "Jaune! Let me go! This is embarrassing!"

"Good then I'm doing my job right." He told her with a smirk as Yang just chuckled along to Jaune's shenanigans.

"Jaune!" she shouted as she tried to push him away.

"Sooner you hug me, the sooner I let go." He told her. She kept trying to push him away for another few seconds until he heard her sigh in defeat and hug him back. With that he gently rubbed the top of her head, "I am proud of you, Ruby. You know that?" He told her seriously.

She slowly peaked up to look at him. A noticeable blush from her embarrassment was on her cheeks but he wasn't going to mention that. She smiled at him, "Thanks, Jaune."

The two pulled away and Yang gave him a cocky grin, "So, how did I do?"

He just looked her in the eyes for a bit before he shrugged, "Meh."

He jaw dropped before she glared at him, "What do you mean by 'meh'?!" she said in annoyance.

"Meh." He said again. This time with a teasing grin.

She just kept eye contact with him before she rolled her eyes. "Jerk." She said as she shoved him.

"Love you too." He said with a smirk. "Anyways, Ruby, Yang. These are my teammates, Pyrrha, Nora and Ren. I thought I would actually introduce you since we aren't trying to not die or in the middle of a ceremony."

"It's great to meet you!" Ruby said in excitement.

"Please keep an eye on our brother." Yang said with a smirk. "He can be a handful."

"Less so than you, Little Sis." He said with the same smirk.

He noticed her eye twitch slightly before she shook her head, "Jaune, this is my partner, Blake."

Jaune just smiled at the raven haired girl and held his hand out to her, "Nice to meet you. And if you need some aspirin, just come to me. I know how my sisters can get."

"Hey!" the two shouted.

Blake just grinned at him, "I'll keep that in mind." She said as she shook his hand.

When they let go, he looked around for a bit. "So, what happened to Weiss?"

Ruby looked to the side slightly as she poked her index fingers together. "I accidentally spilled punch on her dress and she stormed off."

"That makes sense." Jaune said. "Don't worry. She'll cool off. Let's enjoy the party for the time being and deal with that later." With that, they all just enjoyed their night before going to their rooms and getting some well deserved rest before classes the next day.

* * *

Jaune was the first one to wake up the next morning. Practice from all the times he had to get up before Yang so he could actually have a hot shower. As he sat up and stretched out his arms before making his way into the bathroom with his Beacon uniform. He came out fifteen minutes later, fully clothed and his entire morning routine done. He saw Pyrrha was up and patiently waiting her turn. He gave her a small smile and she gave him one in return. "Morning, Pyrrha. Bathrooms all yours."

"Thank you, Jaune." she said as she got up from her bed with her towel and own uniform. As she was getting closer she asked, "How are your hands?"

He just raised one to show the healed and unscarred skin, "All good. Told you they would be fine in the morning."

"I just wanted to be sure. I didn't know how you would get any work done today if your hands were still injured." She said with a hint of worry to her voice.

"It would be hard but I've had to do it before." He answered nonchalantly as he tried to wave off the concern. "May wanna hurry before Nora wakes up. She may just kick the door in when she thinks it's her turn." He said with a smirk. Pyrrha giggled slightly but he could tell that she wasn't entirely sure that wasn't a possibility as she closed the door behind her.

Jaune sat down on his bed and pulled out his scroll. He was going through his schedule for the day to see what classes were in store for him. As he was doing that, he saw Ren quietly wake up and sit up in bed. He looked up from his scroll, "Morning, Ren."

He nodded, "Morning, Jaune." He looked around for a few seconds. "Is Pyrrha in the bathroom?"

He nodded, "She just went in so it may be a while. Also, is there a certain time we should wake her up." He asked as he pointed his thumb towards Nora's bed.

Ren just shook his head, "No. I'll wake her up. If anyone else tries, they will most likely get punched."

That made Jaune chuckle, "Thanks for the heads up." That reminded him of once or twice when Yang took a swing at him when he would try to wake her from a nightmare. 'I wonder how things are going for those two?' he thought to himself.

That was when he heard a loud whistle from across the hall. He looked over to his door for a few seconds before he smiled with a small shake of his head. That was when Nora bolted up and looked around in a panic. When she saw no danger, she gave out a yawn as she gently rubbed one of her eyes. "What was that?" she asked in a tired voice.

Jaune gave a quite chuckle, "Probably one of my sisters, if I had to guess. If I had to guess… Ruby." That made Nora pout and he just went back to his scroll to doublecheck what he would need for his classes. Once he did that, he went about gathering up all his supplies. During that time, Pyrrha came out and Ren took her place. Nora was still trying to fully wake up in her bed, she seemed pretty lethargic since she was prematurely awoken. She was finally fully up when Ren came out of the bathroom and she quickly ran in for her own shower.

When he had everything in order, Jaune turned to his other two teammates. "I guess when Nora is done, we can all head down to the cafeteria and grab some breakfast before class. Do you two mind if I invite my sisters and their team to join us?"

Ren shook his head and Pyrrha gave a more vocal answer, "Not at all, Jaune."

He smiled at them, "Thanks. I'll go over and ask them now." He moved towards the door, "I'll be back in a few." He opened the door and quickly made his way to the other door just across the hall. He raised his fist to knock but stopped when he heard the sound of power tools on the other side. He just closed his eyes and sighed, "What are they planning now?" he asked himself as he finally knocked on the door.

The door opened by Ruby and her look of curiosity quickly turned to excitement. "Morning, Jaune!" she said happily.

He just grinned back and gently ruffled her hair, "Morning, Rubes. I was coming over to see if you all wanted to join my team for breakfast."

"We would love to." She answered immediately. "We just need to finish setting up our bunkbeds."

"What do you mean by bunkbeds?" he asked instantly, already not liking the sound of this.

Ruby flung open the door and spread her arms out, like she was showing off a modern marvel. Jaune just stared at the four beds crudely set up into a bunk bed fashion. One being held up by stacks of books and the other by ropes from the ceiling. "What the hell?" he asked.

"Yeah, they're awesome. We know, Bro." Yang said as she walked over to him with her hands on her hips. Seeming too proud over the monstrosity they had created. He could already feel a headache coming on.

He quickly turned to the other two members of their team. They didn't seem as pleased by the set up as his sisters were. That was a good sign. "How'd they convince you this was a good idea?" he asked them

"I was outvoted." Weiss huffed as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"I thought it was a good idea at first." Blake answered as she turned to the side.

Jaune just placed a hand over his eyes as he sighed. He then pulled out his scroll and started to go through his contacts. "What are you doing?" Yang asked.

He held up a finger as he hit call and turned on the speaker so they all could hear. They all heard it ring until it was finally was picked up, "Hello, Professor Goodwitch."

"Hello, Professor. It's Jaune Xiao Long." Jaune started the conversation as the four girls just looked at him in shock.

"Oh, good morning, Mr. Xiao Long. How is your morning going?" the deputy headmistress continued.

"Pretty good so far. Sorry for calling so early but I had a question I wanted to ask you." He continued as he just ignored the other four in the room.

"It's no problem at all. It's why the professors give the students our scroll numbers. I wish more of our students used them like they are supposed to. So, what was your question?"

"I was just wondering; how hard would it be for a team to get extra furniture for their room? Like bunk beds?" He asked as he made eye contact with his sisters with a smile.

"It's actually fairly easy." Goodwitch started to answer him. "The Team Leader just has to ask for a form to formally request the piece of furniture or addition they'd like for their room. Once that's done, the form needs to be signed by all their teammates. They then just have to give it to me and once I approve of it, they can get the addition in a matter of a week or so. Although, many students over the years have asked for bunk beds and we keep several sets in storage because of that. A team could have them by the end of the day. Would like me to forward you the form?"

"Not me, Professor. But my sisters may like it." He gave both of them a smirk and the two looked away from his eyes in embarrassment. "Could you send it to them?"

"I'll do that now. Is that all you needed, Mr. Xiao Long?" she asked.

"Yes, that was it. Thank you again, Professor." Jaune answered with a smile.

"It was no problem. Now, I will advise you to not be late for your first day. It would not bode well for you." She threatened.

"Yes, ma'am." He answered before hanging up. A few seconds later, Ruby's scroll pinged as she was sent the form they needed. He just grinned at them, "You're welcome and we should head to breakfast soon. Don't wanna be late for our first day, right?" he said smugly as he left RWBY's room and closed the door behind him.

There was an extended silence before Yang sighed as she looked down in defeat, "He's going to be impossible to be around now." Ruby just nodded in defeat. Both knowing how their brother was in these kinds of situations.


	9. The First Day

A Flame in the Dark

Teams JNPR and RWBY were now in the cafeteria, each enjoying their breakfasts before they would need to head to class. Luckily, they appeared to all have the same class, Grimm Studies with Professor Port. And later on, he was going to see Doctor Oobleck for the last class of his day. Jaune, Ruby and Yang were excited to see the Professors; they were good friends of their dad and would come over on occasions. They were almost like uncles to them. But since they knew them both so well, they were wondering if their teaching habits would be any different from how one usually told their stories and when the other had too much coffee. Hopefully, they were.

Jaune was just thinking about what their first day would have in store for them when his blonde sister spoke up, "So, Jaune…" she said with her usual smirk on her lips, "I won the bet yesterday."

He raised an eyebrow at her before he remembered their bet before being launched into the forest. "In my defense, I had interference." He motioned to Pyrrha with a small smirk of his own. "If I didn't stop myself, I would've frozen my partner here."

That caused the redhead to look to the side with a hint of a blush on her cheeks. "I'm sorry. I didn't think that through as much as I should've."

Yang shook her head, "Doesn't matter. You still lost."

"She's got a point." Ruby added before she popped a strawberry into her mouth with a smile.

Jaune sighed, "Fine. A bet's a bet. So, one favor from me then. What do you want?"

He smirk seemed to stretch a bit, "You know what I want~" she said in a teasing tone. That caught Weiss' attention as she looked over the rim of her coffee to observe the siblings' interaction.

Jaune just raised an eyebrow, "Really?" She nodded excitedly. "Why? You can easily do it yourself?"

"Yeah. But you both know it's _way_ better when you do it." Yang added with the same tone of voice. That made Weiss raise an eyebrow as she put her coffee down. The way her teammate was speaking was very… suggestive and she wasn't sure on what to think about it.

Jaune thought for a second and nodded his head, "Guess you have a point. You have given me a lot of experience over the years." Weiss' eyes narrowed at that, 'What are they talking about?'

Yang rolled her eyes at him, "Oh, please. You loved it and I know it." That cause the heiress' eyes to shoot open, 'Oh, Oum. They can't be talking about… _that_, can they?'

Jaune chuckled, "Yeah. Yeah, I do." He grinned at her, "Okay, where and when?"

Weiss' eyes started to dart to the other members of their table. Ren was just catering to Nora excessive talking and Pyrrha seemed to only be half listening to the siblings as she was enjoying her beverage. Meanwhile, Ruby was just watching the back and forth while she enjoyed her breakfast and Blake was ignoring everything as she was reading her book. 'How can they not be reacting to this, this…'

Yang smirked seem to grow, "Here and now seems fine." Weiss' eyes went even wider as a light blush took over her cheeks, 'W-what?!'

Jaune just raised an eyebrow as his grin shifted to being more playful, "In front of everyone, Sis? So scandalous." He held her gaze for a bit, "Alright, come on." He said as he patted the seat next to him at the end of the table.

Weiss was just staring as Yang got up from her seat and walked around to her brother with a smile on her lips. 'This isn't happening, right? These two can't be doing something so… taboo. Especially in front of so many people. Can they?' She kept watching as Yang sat down beside him with her back towards him. As his hands slowly rose up to her, she didn't even so much as blink. Too stunned by what was about to happen.

That was when Jaune started to slowly run his fingers down the length of Yang's mane of hair. She shuddered slightly at the slow and gentle way he did so. He then separated her hair into several locks and started to braid them together. She sighed happily. Weiss just stared on in disbelief as her jaw dropped, "That is what the two of you were talking about?!" Weiss asked, a bit louder than she should've since everyone at their table looked over to her in curiosity.

Jaune looked over his shoulder at her, "Yeah. What did you think we were talking about?"

She cleared her throat and looked way for a second, "Nothing." She said as a deeper blush came to her cheeks. Jaune just shrugged and went back to carefully braiding Yang's mane into something more manageable. Weiss eventually looked back when her blush died down, "So, what's the big deal about having her hair braided?" she asked.

Ruby was the one to speak up since her older siblings were busy. "Oh, Yang is _really_ protective of her hair since she puts so much care and time into maintaining it. She only lets us, along with our dad and our uncle, touch it. Once she let it really grow out, it was a total pain for her to style and braid it herself. So, she would ask me or Jaune to do it for her." She looked to the side in embarrassment, "I… wasn't the greatest at it though. But Jaune is amazing at it, so she only lets him do it for her."

Weiss turned from her leader to Yang and saw that Jaune was nearly done with the braid. He was leaving the last six inches or so free but was holding the braid gently together in his left, "Band." He said simply. Yang instantly held a black colored one over her shoulder to him. He easily took it and carefully tied it around the bottom to keep the braid intact. "And there. Done."

Everyone looked over and were momentarily stunned. For the short time they knew her, Yang had his type of untamed and wild beauty to her. But now, that massive mane of golden hair was brought under control into a French braid that went down her entire back but left the last few inches free to curl into their usual manner. The whole thing gave Yang a more refined look to her.

Yang gently pulled her hair over her shoulder to look at it before she smiled brightly, "Thanks, Bro." she said happily before she gave him a kiss to his cheek.

He just smiled at her, "Anytime, Sis. I'll add it to your tab." He said with a smirk as he raised his coffee mug to his lips.

Yang rolled her eyes playfully as she got up to go back to her own seat and finish her breakfast. "I don't think you'll ever see any of that money, Jaune." Ruby added her own opinion and Yang pulled her 'treacherous' sister into a headlock. He just shrugged with a smile at their antics and went back to his coffee to not get pulled into it. The rest of their breakfast passed in random conversations between everyone, aside from Ren and Blake. Eventually, it was time for their first class of their first day of Beacon Academy and in their own ways, they were all excited for it.

* * *

That excitement quickly died down when Professor Port walked into the room and began his lesson. In nearly complete sync, the three Xiao Long/Rose siblings all deadpanned at their Professor and were feeling foolish that they would think he would be otherwise. And by the look of the rest of their class, they were simply confused on what was going on right now.

As class was going on and Port was going through his tale, Jaune just stared forward as he spun his pen between his fingers. With all the experience he had with the older man, he was already trained to only pick up the necessary points and mark them down but he would ignore the rest.

After copying down the latest tidbit on Grimm weaknesses, Jaune took a glance over at his team to see how they were doing. Nora seemed completely engrossed in the Professor's story with sparkling eyes. He had to actively not chuckle at her expression. Ren was just staring down at his notebook while taking notes. But Jaune angled himself just enough to see that he was actually reading the textbook in his lap and that was probably where the notes were coming from. And finally Pyrrha, who seemed to be struggling a bit. She looked like she was trying to decipher what Port was saying for some sort of hidden meaning but finding none.

Jaune grinned to himself, 'I'll tell her how to figure out Port's lessons after class. Although, her looking like she's trying to figure out the secrets of the universe is pretty amusing.' After that thought, he tuned back in long enough to hear another piece of information that he quickly jotted down before going back to spinning his pen.

He looked down to see what his sisters were up to and he wasn't too surprised by what they were doing. Yang was on her scroll and Ruby was doodling. He just grinned, 'Well, they are able to cut through Port's excessiveness just as well as I can. Just wish that that they would copy this stuff down now, trying to remember it later will not work as well they think.'

He pulled out his scroll and placed it on the desk and typed up a quick message: If you don't try to copy this down, I'm not helping you out later when you forget it. With that, he sent it to both his sisters. Yang got it immediately and looked back to him and stuck her tongue out at him as her reply. He just rolled his eyes, 'Well, I tried.'

As their class was nearing its end, their teacher asked them who thought they embodied the aspects of a true Hunter and Weiss had agreed vehemently. She was then asked to grab her combat gear and come back to face her opponent. She nodded before walking off in a brisk pace. Jaune put his notes away and just waited for her return, he hadn't seen her fight much during initiation and was curious on what his younger sister's partner could actually do.

She eventually walked back down and across from the cage that Port had moved to be on the one side of the room. When she was ready, Port released the Grimm, which was now revealed to be a Boarbatusk. Jaune watched as Weiss fought it but her shouting at Ruby for trying to help her and ignoring what she was saying wasn't doing her any favors in the fight. It also wasn't helping him not want to go down there to give her a reality check.

When the Ice Queen eventually killed the Grimm, by listening to Ruby's advice, Port congratulated her and dismissed the class. Weiss quickly stormed off and Ruby ran after her. Jaune got up from his own seat and watched them go. He took a single step in their direction before he forced himself to stop. He just stared at the door until he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked to see that Pyrrha was looking at him, "Do you want to go check on her?"

Jaune looked at his partner before turning back to the door. He eventually released a defeated sigh, "As much as I want to, I don't think I should."

"Are you sure?" she asked in concern.

He nodded slightly, "Yeah. This is something that Ruby needs to deal with. It's her partner after all. And I can't go and solve all her problems for her if she is going to be as good of a leader I know she can be."

Pyrrha grinned at him, "That's wise of you, Jaune."

"Let's just go to our next class before I try to turn Weiss into a literal Ice Queen." Jaune said seriously and that made Pyrrha giggle. She then took her leader's arm in her hand and started to walk him to their next class.

* * *

The rest of the day went along like most first days of any school. Jaune went to the rest of his classes and was glad to find out that he had at least one of his teammates in all of them. That would make it easier if any of them missed notes or wanted to compare them to be sure they had everything. He was in his last class of the day, History. He just smiled when Oobleck flew into the room and started talking a mile a minute. It was nice to see him and the shocked expressions of the class were also amazing.

For that class, Jaune's head was down and he was quickly writing down all the important parts of what his Professor was saying. His pen was nearly in constant motion as the class went on and the caffeinated teacher darted around the room. He was better off not watching him do that. It would just make him dizzy and distract him from writing.

When there was a slight lull in the lecture, he looked up to scan the room and saw the other students were in a mad dash trying to keep up worth what was going on. He looked to his side to see Pyrrha next to him and also struggling, not as much as the others but still. He looked back down to his notebook when Oobleck started to get back to his lecture and his pen went right back to copying down the most important parts.

"Hey… Jaune?" Pyrrha whispered to him.

His pen stopped for a second before it resumed, "Yes, Pyrrha?" He whispered back.

"I don't meant to distract you. But how are you keeping up so easily?" she asked as her own pen kept going.

"Professor Oobleck is a friend of my dad." He told her and he noticed that she stopped to turn to him with a shocked expression. He turned back with a grin, "Yeah. Port is too. Since I spent so much time around them as a kid, it's easier for me to understand them. If you miss anything in either class, just let me know and I'll give you my notes."

She just smiled at him, "Thank you, Jaune. That would definitely helpful until I get a better grasp on his talking speed."

He returned her smile, "Well, you are my partner after all."

"Mr. Xiao Long and Miss Nikos, are we interrupting you?" Both jumped and turned back to Oobleck, who was in the middle of the room and now had his full attention on them.

Pyrrha looked panicked but Jaune was calm as can be. "No, Doctor. Pyrrha just missed a part of your explanation of how Vale transitioned into the fortified Kingdom it is today. I was just telling her I could give her my own notes to get what she missed."

He just looked at Jaune before turning to Pyrrha, who still had a guilty expression for being caught talking in class. "Excellent! Just be sure to keep those discussions for after class, Mr. Xiao Long!" He quickly nodded before said doctor started to lecture again. The two partners were back to copying down their notes with Jaune trying not to chuckle and Pyrrha trying to stop the smile from stretching across her lips.

The class eventually came to an end and Oobleck quickly sped out of the room. All the first years were especially happy to rest their now aching hands. Jaune cracked his knuckles and wrist to help before he placed all his supplies back into his bag. Pyrrha did the same and they fell in line with the others making their way out of the classroom. Once they were out, Jaune stretched his arms over his head before speaking up, "I think I'll send a message to Ren and Nora. See if they wanna grab dinner now or later?" The two of them began to stroll down the hall towards the cafeteria.

She nodded, "That sounds like a good idea. Are you going to ask Ruby and Yang to join us?"

He shrugged, "I don't know. Ruby may still be trying to smooth things over with Weiss so I don't want to pull her attention away from that."

"So just dinner between our team? That doesn't sound bad at all. We can get to learning more about each other." Pyrrha said excitedly.

Jaune grinned, "Yeah. So far, I've only learned that Nora is a never ending battery and Ren has the patients of a saint." That caused Pyrrha to giggle a bit. "Hopefully, they do want dinner. I'm starving right now. Could really go for some pasta."

Pyrrha opened her mouth to say something but was interrupted by the excited scream that came from down the hall, "JAUNE!" They both turned to see a cloud of rose petals come racing down the hall until it slammed into his right arm. The petals formed back together to be Ruby, who was now hanging onto his upper right arm and her body pressed tightly to his own, her feet dangling off the ground as she did. She just looked up at him with a big smile. "Hi."

He just smiled at her, "Hi, Rubes. What's up?"

"I need to study in the library and I didn't want to go by myself. And Yang's studying habits aren't the best. So, would you come with me?" she asked cutely.

Jaune just kept eye contact for a bit before he closed them with a sigh. He then turned to Pyrrha with guilty expression, "Do you think we could push our team dinner back a bit?"

Pyrrha had an understanding smile, "Absolutely, Jaune. Besides it's a bit early for dinner anyways. I'll pass the message to Ren and Nora and we'll meet you in the cafeteria later. Maybe around seven?"

Jaune nodded, "I can do that. Thanks, Pyrrha."

"Yeah, thanks, Pyrrha." Ruby said happily as she was still hanging off of Jaune.

Pyrrha giggled slightly, "No problem at all. Good luck." With that, she gave them both a small wave and turned to resume her walk down the hall.

Jaune watched her go for a bit before he turned to his sister, "Okay, let's get going." Ruby cheered and released his arm before she grabbed his hand to drag him in the direction of the library. He was easily keeping up to her and was glad she didn't try to drag him there with the use of her Semblance. When you aren't expecting it, traveling like that can be _very_ unpleasant. He would know from personal experience.

It didn't take them long to get to the library. The sheer number of books on the numerous bookcases was jarring to the two as soon as they entered. Ruby pulled herself from her stupor first and started to pull her brother over to the first table she could find. As soon as they sat down, Ruby pulled out her Grimm Studies textbook and started to go through it. Jaune did the same and as they started to look through it, started to discuss about anything that caught their attention. After about an hour or so of this, Jaune decided to bring up what was on his mind. "So, how are things with Weiss?"

Ruby just froze completely and he was shocked that she didn't snap the tip off his pencil. "You know about that?"

He shrugged, "Not any details but her little episode in Port's class was pretty obvious." Ruby just sighed and seemed to deflate a bit. "You wanna talk about it?"

She was quiet for a bit before she started to speak, "Weiss thinks that Ozpin making me a leader was a mistake…"

Jaune just watched his sister for a bit before he sighed, "I'm so tired of her frigid bitch routine. And I've known her for only two days."

"Jaune, please don't make a problem out of this." Ruby practically begged as she turned to him.

"It's hard not to, Ruby." He told her before he took a deep breath to try to calm himself. "She has had this whole high and mighty attitude just because of her status in Atlas. She needs to wake up and realize that she is no better than anyone else that passed initiation." He took a second to think, "You don't believe what she says, right?"

She shrugged, "I was considering it for a bit but Professor Ozpin talked to me. He said it was too early to tell but he didn't think Weiss was right. He also said I should work on showing her how qualified of a leader I actually am." She smiled at her brother, "That is why I'm studying right now. I'm going to be prepared and be the best leader!"

Jaune just looked at her for a bit before he reached over and gently rubbed the top of her head. Ruby closed her eyes and hummed slightly. "If this is what you want, I'm not going to argue. But just remember, you don't have to prove anything to anyone. Least of all, Weiss. So I'll support and help you when I can. Just don't change yourself too much. I love you for who you are, alright?"

Jaune didn't notice the blush that came to her cheeks after his words. She then leant over and wrapped him in a hug, resting her burning cheek against his chest. "I'll try my best, Jaune." In response, he just gently wrapped his other arm around her back and the two just held each other for a couple of minutes.

* * *

The two stopped studying about ten minutes before seven so Jaune could meet up with his teammates for dinner. Jaune had offered for Ruby to join them but she declined. She wanted to grab something before going back to her room to review her notes. He sighed and just reminded her to not overdo it.

As they walked in, Ruby quickly went over to grab something while Jaune was scanning over the tables to look for his team. He finally found Pyrrha and when she saw him, she started to wave him over. He smiled and started to make his way there, along with chuckling a bit when he saw Nora waving her arms above her head to signal him. When he got closer, Ren gave him a small smile and a nod which he returned. As he was about to sit down, he saw another tray of food beside Pyrrha and he was genuinely moved and shocked. "Pyrrha, did you grab me some spaghetti?"

She nodded up at him with a smile, "You said you were in the mood for some pasta. Since I didn't know if you were going to be late, I decided to get you some in case they ran out."

Jaune just returned the smile as he sat down, "I got the best partner ever."

Pyrrha smiled more and Nora gasped, "Excuse you, Ren is the best partner ever!"

Jaune shrugged, "Did Ren get you your preferred dinner?" he asked with a smirk.

She motioned to the large mound of pancakes on her own plate, "Of course he did! That's why he is the best!"

"I prefer waffles." He said with a straight face as he put a forkful of pasta into his mouth.

Nora let out another gasp, "Blasphemy!" she pointed at him dramatically. He just looked at her with the most neutral face as he chewed his meal before popping a meatball into his mouth. They just stared at each other until the both smiled and started to laugh at how ridiculous it was. Their partners just watched them before they both playfully rolled their eyes. They then looked at the other and shaking their heads slightly.

The rest of their meal was spent eating and starting to really get to know each other. Even after they were done eating, they sat at their table for another half an hour before they threw out their garbage and started to make their way back to their dorm. They were still chatting and joking as they walked. The only time Jaune stopped was when he saw Weiss walking towards them.

All his brotherly instincts were telling him to tell her off but he managed to curb them all. As much as he wanted to, he knew he had to let Ruby deal with this whole situation in the way she thought was best. Turning back to the conversation with his team, he laughed at another one of Nora's jokes as the Schnee Heiress walked by them. He looked back over his shoulder as she disappeared into the cafeteria. 'Hopefully, they can sort this out sooner than later.'

It wasn't much longer that Team JNPR wasoutside their dorm and they walked inside. It was ironic that their team was just starting to blossom as their sister team across the hall had hit their very first road bump.


	10. Warming Up

A Flame in the Dark

It had been a few months since the beginning of Beacon's latest term. So teams RWBY and JNPR were now halfway through their very first semester. And things were going smoothly for both team.

Despite the rocky start between Ruby and Weiss, the two had seemed to move past whatever hang-ups they had. Ruby was still trying to be the best leader she could be while Weiss was starting to support her as much as she could. Which was a relief for Jaune since he no longer had to worry about deep freezing the Heiress. On the other side of that spectrum, Blake and Yang had very few issues. It honestly shocked him how easily Blake took Yang's antics in stride. Weiss wasn't as lucky and was constantly getting annoyed by his blonde sister but that was just funny for everyone.

Meanwhile, things were going just as well with Jaune and his team. Nora was a boundless supply of energy but after growing up with both Ruby and Yang, it sort of reminded him of those younger years. Also, Nora never failed to make him laugh with her shenanigans. Ren was quiet but not in a standoffish way. He just didn't have much to say. But he knew Ren appreciated the way he treated Nora, so they became fast friends. Pyrrha and him also got along very well. She was nice and polite whenever they would talk or hang out.

They would also spar fairly often. Pyrrha got a kick out of fighting someone like him. Thanks to his dad and Qrow, he pretty much had two different fighting styles and he could mix them together near flawlessly. That always kept her on her toes and she enjoyed the challenge. Although within all their spars, Jaune had never once used his Semblance and any time she would ask him about it, he would just change the subject after telling her to not worry about.

And with the three siblings being on said teams, RWBY and JNPR were together almost all the time. Even more so than any sister team usually would. But no one was against it. This morning was like any other one and the two teams were at their usually table enjoying their breakfast. Nora was regaling them with one of her dreams as Ren corrected her. Blake was reading one of her books while Weiss was on her scroll to keep up with current events. Meanwhile, Yang and Jaune were busy trying to make Ruby actually have a proper breakfast, instead of a plate full of cookies. Pyrrha just watched the siblings as she grinned and giggled.

Jaune turned to her with a raised eyebrow and a grin, "Something funny, partner?"

She placed her hand over her mouth to muffle her giggles and hide the smile. She shook her head, "No."

His grin just grew wider, "You're a terrible liar, you know?"

"Sorry." She apologized, something he noticed she did a lot. She still had her smile as she continued, "It's just you three always act like this. Is this how it was growing up with you all?"

The three looked at each other before Jaune turned back, "Mostly. Although, Yang would sometimes add to Ruby's shenanigans. Which made my job _so_ much more of a pain to do."

"Lies and slander!" Yang said defiantly.

Jaune just raised an eyebrow, "Really? Then what about the time you indulged Ruby into playing superhero. And you decided to run around in a bathing suit and a blanket as a cape. That was all your idea, I might add."

"That sounds fairly normal for a child." Blake stated as she looked over the top of her book at him.

Jaune had the most Cheshire grin as she turned to look at Yang. Who everyone realized had a faint pink decorating her cheeks and a shocked look in her eyes, "Don't you dare." She warned.

"She was thirteen." He added. Everyone just stared in shock as Yang shouted in mortification and leapt over the table to tackle her brother. The two crashed off the bench and onto the floor. She then pulled him into a headlock as her entire face was a deep red, "You are such a jerk!" Everyone around them was now staring down at the siblings wrestling on the ground. Or one trying to kill the other. Was hard to tell.

Meanwhile, Jaune was tapping on his sister's forearm in an attempt to tap out. "Yang… can't… breathe…" he managed to gasp out.

They all looked on in concern except for Ruby. She just sighed to herself before she looked at her sister, "Yang, stop trying to kill Jaune."

"But he just embarrassed the hell out of me!" she whined as she tightened the grip she had on him.

"And you do it to us _all _the time." Ruby told her with a deadpanned expression. "This is karma so let him go."

Yang just looked at her sister before she eventually huffed and let her brother go. He took in a deep breathe before he started coughing. Yang got up and stomped back over to her seat as Jaune just laid on the floor trying to regain his breathe. "I love you, Ruby…"

Ruby just smiled at him, "Love you too." She then picked up one of the cookies that Jaune had taken from her. "I will take this as payment." She said cheerfully as she took a bite from the baked good.

Jaune just sighed as he pulled himself back onto his seat next to Pyrrha. He gave a look to everyone that was still watching them and they quickly turned away since the show was over. He then turned back to his partner, who was just looking at him in bewilderment. "So, yeah, pretty much normal for us, Pyrrha."

Pyrrha just looked them all over. Jaune trying to not die, Yang still pouting at what Jaune said and Ruby happily eating her cookie. "How did you even survive?"

He just shrugged, "We Xiao Longs and Roses are tough." He answered simply.

"Hey, Jaune!" Nora shouted from the end of their side of their table.

Jaune leant forward to better see the bomber of his team, "Yes, Nora?"

"How come you and Yang have different last names than Ruby?" she asked.

That took him off guard since it had been months since they met each other and she was just bringing it up now. He took a look around the table and his non-family members had similar curious looks. It appeared to be something they were all interested in knowing but none of them had broached the topic until now.

Jaune looked over to his sisters, who had stopped what they were doing when they heard Nora's question. He just raised an eyebrow and the two looked at each other. They looked back and shrugged, neither against him explaining it. So with their agreeance, he turned back to the table as a whole. "Well, Yang took our dad's last name because of reasons I don't want to go into." He was not going to bring up Yang's mom and the fact she ran off on her, that wasn't their business right now. "Unfortunately, Ruby's mom passed away when they were young and Ruby decided she wanted to have her last name instead. As a way to always have her with her."

That gained shocked looks from everyone and they all turned to Ruby, each with a different level of sadness on their faces. Ruby saw this and gave them a sad smile, "It's fine. It happened a long time ago. I still miss her but I'm better now." She looked at Yang then Jaune, "I had my siblings and Dad and Uncle Qrow." She smiled widened into a more genuine one. Yang smiled and wrapped her in a side hug while Jaune reached across the table and took her hand in his own.

Everyone smiled at the sibling's little moment before Pyrrha picked up where Nora left off. "So, why did you decide to go by Xiao Long?"

Jaune took his hand back from Ruby and shrugged, "Well, I never knew Summer. So, I really had no choice but to be a Xiao Long."

"Wait, why didn't you know Summer? You're the same age as Yang." Weiss asked with a raised eyebrow.

He raised his own before the thought came to him and he facepalmed. "Known each other for months and we never told you guys."

"Told us what?" Blake added, now more interested in the conversation.

Jaune dragged his hand down his face before he sighed. "Well it never really bothered us but the truth is, Ruby, Yang and I aren't _really_ related." That earned him a few confused expressions before he quickly finished. "I'm adopted."

That floored everyone for several seconds. Until Nora spoke up, "How?! You and Yang look so much like each other."

"Not to mention that Jaune looks like a younger version of our dad." Yang added with a smirk. She always enjoyed the looks of shock people would get when they eventually found out about this little fact.

They all turned back to Jaune with looks that just screamed, 'explain'. He just shrugged, "Yeah, no. I'm not Taiyang's son. Biologically, that is. I was adopted when I was seven but I've never been treated as anything less than their son or brother. But anyways, when I needed a last name I chose my dad's because I _never _knew Summer Rose."

He scratched the back of his head nervously, "It just didn't seem right to take the name of a woman I never knew and who didn't even knew I existed. She was Ruby and Yang's mom. Not mine." He quickly turned back to hi sister, "And I know, I know. You've both told me time and again that Summer would've loved me and I appreciate that. But still."

The two just smiled at their brother and the other's just looked them over. Surprisingly, Ren was the person to ask a follow up question. "Do you remember your original family?"

Ruby and Yang looked nervous for a second, knowing that subject could be touchy to Jaune. Luckily, he just shook his head, "Nothing at all. Honestly, most of my early life is a blur before I met Yang and Ruby. Could be trauma but I don't know for sure. But honestly, I've put that behind me. I don't expect to ever run into my first family. And if I do…" he shrugged, "I guess I'll deal with that if it comes up." He just grinned at Ren who nodded back.

"Now, as much as I love to talk about family…" Jaune started to get them onto another topic. "Who's excited for class?"

Weiss started to answer, prim and proper as usual. "I'm looking forward to seeing what Professor Port and Oobleck have in store for us. It should be quite informative."

"Boring!" Nora answered immediately. "I'm looking forward to Combat class! I wanna go crazy!" That caused many people at the other tables to look panicked at her outburst.

Ren sighed, "Just don't go too crazy, Nora. If you keep causing too much destruction, Professor Goodwitch may start to give you detention."

Nora just pouted as she stuck a full pancake in her mouth, "Spoilsport." She muttered through it.

That made Jaune chuckle, "Cheer up, Nora. Combat class should be a bit more exciting today." He said with a knowing grin as he brought his coffee mug up to his lips.

That caught everyone's attention except for Pyrrha, who seemed to be enjoying the remainder of her breakfast. Yang was the one to ask, "Alright, what are you two planning?"

Jaune just looked to his sister, "Me? Planning something? Would I do something like that?" he said with a grin.

"Yes." Yang and Ruby answered without a beat of hesitation. The reaper then continued, "Come on, Big Bro, tell us what you have planned." She tried giving him the puppy eyes but luckily, he built up a tolerance to them over the years. Not immunity but he could resist it much longer than their dad.

"Sorry, sis. But my lips are sealed." He told her and she pouted. "But, I will say that there should be an interesting fight today." He gave a sideways look to Pyrrha. "Right, Pyrrha?"

She smiled at him and nodded, "I would say so, Jaune."

The way they were acting had Yang and Ruby narrow their eyes at Pyrrha in jealously. Yang quickly took a deep breath to calm down before she did something stupid. Wasn't the first time she needed to do this. 'Don't blow up. That won't do anyone any good.'

While Ruby shook her head and looked down in confusion, wondering, 'Why did I do that?' She had done nothing like that beforehand and was honestly confused. Sure, she wasn't thrilled with people, mostly girls, hanging too much with her brother. But she never had felt like_ this_ before.

Before anyone could question them further, the bell went off and signaled that their first classes would begin soon. Jaune and Pyrrha walked out together as they chatted like nothing had happened. With the rest of their team and sister team quickly following after them. Trying to stop them and make them reveal their plans.

This was going to be a long day for them.

* * *

The rest of the day was spent with Ruby, Yang and Nora all asking Jaune and/or Pyrrha what they were planning, on and off all day. But they had no such luck on getting anything out of the partners. Jaune would just grin and Pyrrha would just apologize but give nothing away.

Luckily, the other three of their merry band didn't ask them about it as well. But Jaune had the feeling that Ren and Blake either didn't care as much or were just patiently waiting for Combat class. Probably accepting the fact that Jaune and Pyrrha were going to stay tight lipped about this. Weiss though, they could all tell she was curious but was just trying to act like she was anything but. Which just made it more amusing to Jaune.

Eventually, which seemed to be entirely too long for four people, it was time for Combat class and they all eagerly made their way to Goodwitch's class. But even while they were sitting there, neither of the partners would tell them what was going on.

They got their answer when class started and Goodwitch walked out with her scroll, "Good afternoon, everyone. Now today's lesson will begin a bit differently than most. I was approached earlier in the week by a pair of students-" RWBY, Ren and Nora all looked at Jaune and Pyrrha with that. "And they had requested a unique fight. I was against it at first but after looking it over, I believe it will be a good learning experience for everyone here."

"So, without any more delays." Goodwitch looked over to the partners. "Can I have Miss Nikos, Mister Xiao Long and Miss Xiao Long come down here for their two-on-one bout?"

Everyone was stunned and looked over to the three mentioned students. Yang was just as stunned as everyone and stared at her brother, "You want me to fight you and Pyrrha?"

Jaune chuckled, "No. I want you to help me fight Pyrrha." He corrected.

Her eyes widened a bit more in realization before she had the biggest smile stretch across her lips, "So, that's what you had planned." She laughed slightly. "Okay. I'll forgive you for this morning since this totally makes up for it." She gently punched him on the shoulder before all three got up and made their way to their respective locker rooms.

The whole room devolved into the students chatting about what they were about to see. Weiss just sighed, "That is what they had planned? Well, it should be interesting but I believe Pyrrha will still win."

"You sure about that, Weiss?" Blake asked her teammate.

She nodded, "Taking nothing away from Yang or Jaune but Pyrrha is the most skilled first year. And we've seen her beat both of them. Even with the numbers advantage, I still believe that she will win." She then heard Ruby giggle and she shot a glare over to her partner. "What's so funny, Ruby."

She just turned to her partner with a grin on her lips, "You know a lot about Pyrrha but you don't know anything about Jaune and Yang back at Signal." Weiss just had a look that told her to explain. "Our Dad is a professor there and he would occasionally set up team spars, to help the students get used to working with a team before going to any of the Academies. Early on, he paired up Jaune and Yang but he had to stop doing that all together not long after."

That made everyone confused, "What, did Yang not work well with Jaune?" Blake asked her.

Ruby shook her head, "Nope. They worked too well together. Every fight they had together, they won it. By a landslide. It got to the point that the entire school started to call them 'The Unbeatable Duo'."

"The Unbeatable Duo!?" Nora said in awe.

Ruby nodded, "Yup." She said popping the 'p' as she looked back down to the ring. "So Pyrrha is hopefully prepared because it's not going to be easy."

Weiss just stared ta her partner before looking down to the ring as well. The three fighters were starting to come out at that time. "I guess we'll see."

* * *

The Xiao Long siblings were standing across from Pyrrha as they were stretching. Yang linked her finger together before stretching her arms above her head. "So, how'd you convince Pyrrha to do this?"

Jaune was knelt down and stretching his legs out as he answered, "I didn't. I told Pyrrha me and you were a great team back at Signal. She wanted a better challenge besides just me sparring her. So, she jumped at the opportunity." He stood tall and turned back to her, "Didn't ask you because I knew you'd be psyched to do it."

She grinned back, "You know me so well." She then looked to Pyrrha, "Who goes first?" Jaune just held up a fist and Yang nodded. They did a single round of Rock, Paper, Scissors with Yang winning with Rock. "Sorry, Bro. Better luck next time."

Jaune just rolled his eyes with a grin. He honestly let Yang win. She didn't realize it but Jaune knew that she used Rock three-fifths of the time. "Let's do this." He replied simply. With a quick flick of their wrists, both Ember Celica and Glacies Tempest fully deployed themselves. They then lowered into near identical boxing stances. Pyrrha also got into her stance, Akouo in front with Milo in xiphos form behind her. With that, the entire room quitted down.

"This will be a tournament style fight. However, if either Miss or Mister Xiao Long's aura goes below red or are thrown from the ring, Miss Nikos will win. Both sides ready?" Goodwitch asked. And after receiving three nods, continued. "Begin!"

As soon as the match started, Yang used her gauntlets to launch herself but not at Pyrrha. She used the discharges to fly up into the air, stunning everyone besides Ruby. Pyrrha was temporarily distracted and when her eyes went back to her partner, she had to raise her shield to stop the salvo of ice Dust coming her way.

Jaune had his right arm fully extended and wasn't showing any sign of stopping. Pyrrha couldn't stick around though, her shield was already getting covered in a sheet of ice. She threw herself to the side and landed on her shield to break the ice before continuing to roll into a kneeling position. During that, she had shifted Milo into its rifle form and took aim at Jaune. That's when she heard the battle cry and a shotgun blast from above.

Pyrrha looked up to see Yang had used one blast of her weapon to send her towards her opponent and was about to come down on top of her with a power packed punch. Pyrrha quickly jumped backwards to avoid the brawler. The air that was displaced from Yang's fist smashing into the ring helped to create more distance between them. Pyrrha took aim at Jaune while still flying back, firing three quick shots.

Jaune quickly crossed his arms to protect himself from the bullets but his aura did take a hit from it. With him distracted, Pyrrha shifted her weapon back into a xiphos and charged towards Yang when her feet touched the ground. The champion came down with a downward slash but Yang managed to stop the blade with her gauntlet. The brawler then followed it up with a right jab but Pyrrha stopped it with the use of her shield. They were in a mild power struggle before Yang fired a shot directly on the shield. The discharge pushing the two of them away from each other.

The two quickly charged at one another and soon devolved into a standstill. Every punch Yang threw was either caught on the champion's shield or was made to barely miss her with the use of her Polarity. Meanwhile Pyrrha's sword slashes were either stopped by the brawler's gauntlets knocked away with a wide swing from her. But Yang couldn't keep it up forever and slowly, Pyrrha was taking control of the exchange.

Jaune lowered his arms and saw the two of them fighting. He quickly drew Stalwart and deployed it to its full length before charging towards Pyrrha, making sure Yang was between her eyesight and him. When he was close enough, he shouted, "Tag!" And as soon as Yang heard it, she threw herself to the side as Jaune stepped into her place with an upward swing from his sword. Pyrrha managed to lock her blade with his to stop it.

The two pulled their respective blades away before devolving into an exchange of slashes, the sound of metal on metal was filling the arena. With Pyrrha distracted, Yang rolled herself back onto her feet before she maneuvered herself to get a side angle on Pyrrha before launching a flurry of her fire Dust ammo. Too bad Pyrrha heard it and pushed Jaune away with a kick before spinning and placing her shield to defend herself. Her arms shook from the impacts but was relatively fine. That was until Yang changed her target and blasted the ground at her feet, sending the champion off her feet and in the path of the sword user.

Jaune pulled the trigger of his sword as he delivered another upward swing, releasing a wave of ice directly towards his flying partner. Seeing the incoming attack, Pyrrha managed to spin herself so she landed feet first onto the ice wave. She git her teeth as her aura took a hit from the sudden deceleration. She let the ice wave carry her for a few seconds before she launched herself off it and back towards Yang. She shifted her weapon into its spear form before throwing it at her. Not prepared, the spear bit into Yang's aura and pushed her back several feet.

What neither noticed was Jaune running on the top of his ice wave towards Pyrrha, who had just landed in a three-point stance on the ground. He leapt off the ice and pulled his left arm backwards before descending down onto the champion. Imitating his sister with his own battle cry. She managed to spin to catch his punch but the ice explosion still sent her skidding across the floor and weakening her aura further.

Yang took her chance to run towards and tried to pounce onto her with a combo of punches. Pyrrha got hit by two before she managed to recover. Yang's next punch went wide with the use of her Polarity and Pyrrha stepped in and shield bashed the brawler back. She used the opportunity and distraction to pull her spear back to her. She quickly delivered a flurry of stabs before she stabbed the spear head into the ground. She kicked herself off Yang to spin herself around it and gain momentum before driving both her feet into Yang and sending her flying backwards.

Jaune saw this and quickly used his aura to launch himself into his sister's path. He threw his sword behind them and it managed to impale into the ground as he was doing so. He turned back and caught Yang in his arms, her back against his chest. As the two continued to fly back, Jaune landed on Stalwart: one foot on the guard and the other on the broadside of the blade. They slowed down slightly as the sword started to cut into the ground.

"Yang, finish it!" Jaune commanded and let go of her. Yang narrowed her eyes and she tilted forward and placed her feet on her brother's now crossed arms. Jaune pushed forward as Yang pushed off him, along with firing another pair of discharges form her gauntlets; all equaling her flying towards Pyrrha. The force pushed Jaune back and knocked his sword from the ground, making him fly towards the out of bounds. But he saw Yang flying towards Pyrrha with her Semblance activated. Looking like a golden comet. She collided with Pyrrha and creating an impressive spiderweb cracking across the ring. But it didn't force her out of the ring; most likely she used her Polarity to help brace herself. But her aura took a big hit.

Jaune shook himself from watching his sister in awe and quickly realized he was almost out of the ring. He quickly aimed for the very edge and started to fire at it with his right Glacies Tempest since he had no chance to reload his left. He fired the last few of his clip but the wall he made was no where big or thick enough to stop himself.

"This is going to suck." He told himself as he quickly used his arms to shield his head as his body broke through the ice and landed on the ground with a meaty slap. He groaned in pain. "Ouch." He hissed out before the ring out alarm went off and ending the match.

"Mister Xiao Long has been thrown from the ring, Miss Nikos wins." Goodwitch announced. With that, the rest of the class was applauding for the spectacle that fight was.

Jaune groaned as he sat up on the floor. "Jaune!" He looked over to see that Yang was running over to him. She jumped down and was by his side, while Pyrrha was running over to him as well. "Are you alright?"

He gave them both a small smile and a thumbs up, "Just sore. But damn, that was a close fight. Nearly had you, Pyrrha."

She nodded with a smile, "If you didn't get a ring out, I'm not sure if I would've been able to beat you two."

Yang gave a sigh, "That sucks. If I didn't kick off you so hard, we might've won."

"Or maybe you would've launched yourself from the ring?" Jaune teased and she punched him on the shoulder with a grin. The three shared a laugh before Goodwitch came over to go over their match. But they all had enjoyed themselves and maybe they could do it again later down the line.

* * *

Jaune was currently in the locker room, returning his weaponry to his locker. The entire time he had a content smile on his face. It had been a long time since he had a fight like that and even longer since he could team up with Yang. As he was changing back into his uniform, he heard someone else enter the locker room. 'Goodwitch must have called for the next fight. Wouldn't want to be the follow up after that.' He chuckled to himself.

While deep in thought, the person walked up behind him. "Well, fancy meeting you here, Jauney Boy."

He turned around while knotting his tie to see that it was none other that Cardin Winchester. He had seen him around campus but never really talked to him. But considering how he treated a lot of people, he wasn't in a hurry to. But he wasn't one to just blow someone off. "Oh, hey, Cardin. You get called for the next match?" he asked politely.

He nodded with a cocky smile, "Yup. Should be pretty easy. My opponent is a loser."

With that, the conversation was ruined for Jaune. He grabbed his blazer and slid his arms through it. "Well, good luck then. I should get back before the Professor gets annoyed." He turned to walk out but was stopped when he felt Cardin's hand grab his shoulder. Jaune looked over his shoulder to him to see what he wanted.

"Now what's the rush? You don't have time for a friend?" he asked cockily.

"We're not friends." Jaune told him. He was getting flashbacks to Signal. "In fact, this is the first time we've spoken to each other."

A look of annoyance flashed across the bully's face before he grinned again. He quickly wrapped his arm around Jaune's shoulder. It looked like a friendly gesture but it also had an act of intimidation behind it. But had little effect on Jaune. "You may be right but I'd like to change that. We do a favor for each other and I could easily see that changing to us being best buddies."

"And what would this 'favor' be?" Jaune asked, unimpressed.

"Glad you asked. I don't know if you noticed but your sister is by far the hottest chick in this school." Cardin started and Jaune clenched his jaw at that. "I would really like to spend some time with her but she just keeps blowing me off. So, I was thinking, if her brother would put in a good word for me..." He let the sentence linger for a bit.

Jaune just looked into Cardin's eyes with a cold glare. "Not going to happen. My sister deserves better than to be with a scumbag like you and I'll be damned before I have anything to do with that. Now, let go." Jaune hissed at the end and a wave of heat rippled off his body. Cardin quickly backed off from the sudden and intense heat as he looked at Jaune in shock. Jaune held Cardin's gaze for a few more seconds before he stormed off. Cardin just watched him go as a furious look came to his face and his fist clenched.


End file.
